Memory Care Archives - Pine Run Retirement Community

Building Dementia Activity Boards: Woodworking With a Purpose

The Woodworkers of Pine Run Support their Fellow Residents with the Creation of Dementia Activity Boards

After training in the US Navy Seabees and a successful and fulfilling career in healthcare facilities management, Jerry Schmidt is well-versed in all things mechanical. He’s managed and maintained systems large and small, and he has the mechanical know-how to disassemble, fix, and reassemble just about anything. After experiencing significant cognitive loss due to Lewy Body Dementia, Jerry is now a resident of The Garden, Pine Run’s Secure Memory Care neighborhood, located on the top floor of the Health Center on the Ferry Road Campus.

“The environment feels very familiar to Jerry from his time working in healthcare,” said Mary Beth Baringer, Administrator at The Garden. Jerry is, in many ways, still working. “Since coming to live with us, he has taken apart furniture, doorknobs, picture frames, and other items, because in his mind, he is still at work,” continued Mary Beth.

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Senior Wellness: The Power of Play

Did You Have Fun Today? Did you laugh? Did you try something new or silly just for the fun of it? Pine Run Retirement Community is always focused on the seven dimensions of senior wellness in all that we do: Physical; Emotional; Intellectual; Social; Spiritual; Environmental; and Occupational. One area of wellness that is not talked about enough, especially in senior living, touches all of these. And that is play.

You may think of play as the “work” of children. It’s common knowledge and well-accepted in our society that children learn, grow, and develop social structure through play. As we age, there is less focus on play.

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Placing a Parent in a Memory Care Home: Making Peace with the Decision

One of the hardest decisions an adult child may face is the decision to place a parent in a memory care home – and the decision is made even more difficult when that parent has declared for years, in no uncertain terms, that they never want to go into a “nursing home.”

That was the situation Jennifer Carlin and her three sisters found themselves in as they considered a memory care home for their mother, matriarch Clare Carlin. It was becoming clear she could no longer could live alone in her cottage in Pine Run Retirement Community’s independent living neighborhood, The Village.

“Everything she did was always on her own timeframe,” Jennifer Carlin said recently. “When she made the move to the cottage at Pine Run, it was absolutely the right time to do it, and she was very happy there.”

Clare Carlin moved into The Village in 2017. Living at Pine Run in her retirement had been her goal since 1976 when she spotted new construction rising from a field on Ferry Road in Doylestown Township. The project that would become Pine Run Retirement Community was located a mere three miles from the Carlins’ farmhouse and 10-acre property on Callowhill Road.

“When Pine Run was being built, she always said that was where she was going to retire,” Jennifer recalled. “She’s a huge fan of Doylestown Hospital, and it was important to her to stay within that community. That was her goal, and so that’s what she did.”

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Love in The Garden

Kathy and Peter Achorn in their Pine Run Cottage

Deciding to place a beloved spouse or partner in a secure memory care facility ranks among the toughest decisions one will ever have to make.

Peter Achorn found that out firsthand when he had to consider a secure memory care facility when his wife Kathy began exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease .

Kathy and Peter Achorn in their cottage before her move to secure memory care — Kathy and Peter Achorn in their Pine Run cottage.

Married since 1969, the couple had been inseparable for decades.

“We have no family around, so the two of us have been a nuclear family,” Peter explained one recent afternoon in the sun-filled cottage the couple had shared together at Pine Run Retirement Community. “When our parents were alive, we used to see people at Christmas or Thanksgiving. But my siblings and Kathy’s are all scattered now, so it is just the two of us.”

Being so close for so long, Peter and Kathy knew each other well – well enough to notice when something wasn’t quite right with the other person.

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Selecting a Memory Care Facility – A Checklist

Selecting a memory care facility for a loved one affected by a memory-impairing illness such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia can seem daunting. There is so much to consider. Knowing the right questions to ask memory care facilities can help families get started as they face this important decision.

Millions of Americans – in fact, a projected 13 million by 2025 – live every day with the effects of dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. If you’ve noticed worrying signs of memory impairment in a loved one, you are not alone. Millions of families also are searching for the best memory care facility for their family members, and many of them feel lost and alone.

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Knowing what questions to ask memory care facilities can turn an overwhelming task into a manageable one.

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Spring is in the Air and Our “New Normal” Takes Shape!

This Spring is a season of new beginnings, a season of hope, and a season of joy. With the COVID pandemic continuing to wane, life begins anew. We’re enjoying longer hours of daylight and the warmer temperatures. We’re meeting friends again, enjoying restaurants, our families, planning vacations, and adjusting to our “new normal.” Pine Run Villagers and Associates are excited by the possibilities! Villagers are hard at work once again booking trips to places as varied as the Barnes Museum and the Steel Stacks in Bethlehem. Movie night is back, Village Voices are singing, lifelong learning classes are underway, artists are gathering in the Craft Barn, dining options are expanding, Villagers are back to volunteering in the Health Center, Doylestown Hospital, and many other area nonprofits, and fitness programs are more popular than ever. For some of you it may be time to think about a move. We’ve received a lot of questions over the past several months about life at Pine Run during COVID. What happened? How did you keep your Villagers and residents safe but also keep their spirits up? Would I have benefitted by bring a part of this community during our darkest of lockdown days? And what is next?

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When is the Right Time to Make a Move into Personal Care?

Words of Wisdom from a Pine Run Lakeview Resident

Villager Ed Corini holds a photo of his wife at Pine Run Lakeview a personal care home — Villager Edmond Corini holds a picture of his wife at Pine Run Lakeview.

When Edmond Corini first entered Pine Run Lakeview, several years ago, it was to visit his wife Mary, who had moved to the personal care home in Bucks County PA, when she needed support and assistance with her daily tasks and activities. Over the months that Mary lived at Lakeview, Ed got to know the home and its staff members well and saw first-hand the attentive, compassionate care they delivered to every resident.

After Mary passed away in September 2017, Ed continued living in the cottage they had shared in The Village, Pine Run Retirement Community’s independent living neighborhood in Doylestown Township. They had moved to Pine Run in 2008, after Ed retired from life as a “corporate gypsy,” moving up and down the East Coast.

He enjoyed the company of his neighbors and the activities at The Hub, Pine Run’s sparkling new community center. But by 2021, Ed had suffered a stroke, and although he recovered fairly well, he did lose peripheral vision in one eye – and that changed everything.

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Making a Dementia Care Plan

When is a Dementia Care Plan needed?

Noticing the signs of memory impairment can be frightening. It may begin with misplaced keys or forgetfulness, getting lost or repeating stories, or marked changes in behavior and judgment. Families often ask if these changes are a normal part of aging or whether something more serious is happening. If something more serious is going on, families may need to start thinking about making a dementia care plan.

The brain does change with age. For many, general forgetfulness, also known as Mild Cognitive Impairment, is a stage between normal cognitive changes during the aging process and the more serious decline of dementia.

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Pine Run Retirement Community Celebrates 45th Anniversary

Does My Long-Term Care Plan Cover Memory Care Facilities?

70% of people of the age of 65 need long-term residential care Someone turning age 65 today has nearly a 70 percent chance of needing some type of long-term care services and supports in their lifetime, according to recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Data shows that women typically need care longer than men, an average of 3.7 years for women to 2.2 years for men. One-third of today’s 65 year-olds may never need long-term care support, but 20 percent will need it for longer than 5 years. Understanding of your long-term care plan is an important factor in evaluating memory care facilities.

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