Cooking a meal for the family. Changing the oil of a classic 1965 sports car. Planting and watering a garden full of fresh colorful blooms or vegetables. Holding a baby for the first time. As you read those sentences, what came to mind? You likely recalled memories from your life that made you feel warm, happy, and purposeful. You may have visualized yourself or someone you love doing these familiar things. All it took was reading the words to bring up the memory for you. Memories can also be triggered by familiar sights, sounds, or smells. In this way, memories are created and stored through our senses.
At Commonwealth Senior Living, we know that stimulating the senses can bring back wonderful and engaging memories. For this reason, we incorporate universally familiar "scenes," or Life Stations in all our Sweet Memories Memory Care neighborhoods.
At the kitchen station, you will find bowls and cookbooks that encourage a homemaker to remember those warm and inviting memories of caring for her family. As you continue on through the neighborhood you will come across a workbench with tools. Many of our male residents stop and tinker with the items on the bench. Next, you will find a place to garden and a vanity to put on a little glam. Following these wonderful memories, you can relax in a rocking chair and care for a realistic and weighted baby doll in the nursery Life Station fully equipped with a cradle and storybooks.
Life Stations are effective tools for those living with memory loss. They function as way finders to navigate the memory care space. They stimulate and encourage happy memories and help our associates easily engage with our residents.
You can also create similar spaces if you are caring for someone with memory loss in your home. Engaging in familiar family tasks not only reduces isolation and symptoms of depression but also provides moments of joy and recall that are safe and effective at reducing the side effects of living with memory loss.
We invite you to tour a Sweet Memories community near you and see a Life Station for yourself and how it is used throughout the day to bring joy and familiarity to our residents' lives. Feel free to rock a baby, plant a flower, or put on a fancy hat and smile at yourself in the vanity mirror as you let your memories fill you with joy.
Click the button below to contact the community nearest you to learn more about Life Stations