Cogitive Care

Alavida lifestyles, The Ravines, provides safety, security, support, with the assistance that is just right. At The Ravines, residents experience plenty of opportunities for stimulation, socializing, as well as professional, caring staff.

All of the staff employed on the Cognitive Care Floor have been specifically trained to work with individuals coping with the challenges associated with memory loss and dementia. The Ravines provides training from different organizations, which allow the staff to learn various concepts and approaches to working with the residents in their day to day lives.

When you step off the elevator onto the Cognitive Care Floor, you can immediately see the thoughtful details and design that set this floor apart from any other within the building.  

Features to Explore  

The extra wide corridor is more like a common area than a hallway, and is especially designed to provide free space for the residents to use as they wish. Residents can stroll freely within this secure, but open area. The entrance to each room has a built-in memory box where precious artifacts, souvenirs and photos can be displayed, depicting the unique life and history of each resident and creating a comforting feeling of home.

The Cognitive Care Floor offers a variety of private studio, one and two bedroom suites allowing each individual to customize their home with personal touches. The one and two bedroom suites also allow couples to remain together when one of them needs more support than the other.

The dining room and lounge area on the floor provide another inviting area for the residents to take part in the many activities throughout the day. The lounge also features a demonstration kitchen; allowing residents to enjoy homemade baked goods that they can feel proud to have been a part of creating. 

Two outdoor terraces are accessible from the dining room and lounge. Large windows in the dining room look out onto a patio that provides an area with open space for those who enjoy the sun and a shaded area for those who prefer the shade. A secure patio, surrounded by green space with a Ravine view is located on the ground floor, allowing residents more space to walk outside while remaining in a secure setting.

Special consideration is taken into account when planning the wide variety of programs to ensure that the residents are being well stimulated. Programs including music therapy, pet therapy and physiotherapy provide the residents with the opportunity to meet their social, physical and mental needs. Recreation staff designated to the Cognitive Care Floor design specific programs based on each resident’s unique talents and ensure that they are all actively engaged.

The Stabilization Lounge based on the Snoezelen concept is a first for Ottawa-area retirement residences. A fun, recreational, multi-sensory room, it provides stimulation to engage residents and promote a sense of well-being. Through smell, touch, sound, color, light and texture, residents experience a variety of pleasurable stimuli. Family and friends are encouraged to share this positive experience with their loved ones.

Residents have experienced wonderful outcomes through Ann Dobbins Memory Matters, a one-on-one program of cognitive stimulation therapy. This program has increased happiness and self-confidence, smoother communication skills, better sleep/rest patterns, enhanced memory and an overall improvement in quality of life.