AltaVita Memory Care

Each resident at AltaVita Memory Care in Longmont, Colorado, has a personal memory box decorated with photos, keepsakes and memorabilia from that resident's own past. The community stands at 800 South Fordham Street in Boulder County and offers memory care in a secured environment for people living with Alzheimer's disease, dementia or other forms of memory impairment. Its 56 private units are grouped into separate neighborhoods, and health offices share a 36,000-square-foot building with them.

Around the clock, residents are looked after by a staff whose training is focused on Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Medications are handled by that same team, from sorting each resident's prescriptions to giving each dose in line with the physician's orders. When a resident has an emergency or a non-emergency need for a ride, staff will arrange the transportation. Within the secured setting, each neighborhood takes in private spaces as well as secure outdoor areas for the people who live there.

Beyond the residents who make the community their home, the program also reaches people who come for adult day services during the day and guests with a memory-related illness who stay overnight for respite while their family caregivers see to personal matters. Programs take place on all seven days of the week, and the calendar is shaped around what each participant does well and the life story that each one brings along.

Three times a day the culinary team serves meals prepared with the particular needs of memory-related illness in mind. Regular appointments with the salon are offered to every resident, housekeeping is provided, and a weekly laundry service takes care of bed linens and personal clothing. The community also has its own bistro and ice cream parlor, where the selections on offer change from time to time.

Outdoors, residents and their visitors can spend time on four garden patios and in a courtyard placed at the center of the community. Suites are offered in three styles, a studio, a one-bedroom and a one-bedroom deluxe, with sizes between 250 and 500 square feet. Each suite comes with a private bath, large windows and ceilings that reach 11 feet, and both one-bedroom styles also include a living room.

AltaVita Memory Care is set up for a person living with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia whose care calls for a secured setting and a staff trained in memory loss. Loved ones are welcome to visit at any time of day, and suites in all three styles are offered on a private-pay basis. A long-term care insurance policy can often help offset that cost, and the community processes the policy paperwork for families who hold one.

Starting monthly rates differ by suite style, and current figures are worth confirming with the community directly before a move. The South Fordham Street address places the community in Longmont, within Boulder County. Longs Peak Hospital on East Ken Pratt Boulevard is about 1 mile east of the community in a straight line, and Longmont United Hospital, a 186-bed Level III trauma center on Mountain View Avenue, is a little over 2 miles to the north of it.

King Soopers on South Hover Street is roughly a third of a mile away, and Ozo Coffee Roasters sits a little over half a mile off on that same street. Willow Farm Park, a public park, is also part of the surrounding Longmont area.