The Memory Care Innovation program is designed to recognize passionate and innovative industry members who are shaping the future of cognitive care across behavioral health, home health and home care, hospice and palliative care, senior housing, and skilled nursing. To see this year’s inaugural Memory Care Innovation Award winners, visit https://innovation.memorycarebusiness.com/.
To become a Memory Care Innovation Award winner, an individual is nominated by their peers. The candidate must be a high-performing employee who knows how to put vision into action, and serve as an advocate for those living with memory-related disorders, and the committed professionals who ensure their well-being.
Melissa Dillon is the corporate director of memory care for SRG Senior Living. Senior Housing News caught up with Dillon to understand her career journey, while discussing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for senior living operators in the memory care sector.
What drew you to working in memory care?
While earning my undergraduate degree in psychology, I completed an internship at a senior living community. The team was not accustomed to hosting a volunteer for so many hours and often did not know how I could support them. Many times, I was asked to simply be in memory care without direction.
In no time at all, I created a close relationship with Lou Jean. She was experiencing young-onset Alzheimer’s Disease and subsequently passed away from the disease at 64 years old, weighing only 64 pounds. It was a strange process to experience. Most people found it difficult to connect with Lou Jean, and for some odd reason, without training, I did not fight her but rather joined her journey.
One day, she was upset because she was cold. After attempts to help her with a sweater, go for a walk outside, and sip on some hot chocolate, I was out of ideas. So, I said, “Lou Jean, do you know what I do when I’m cold? I dance.” Lou Jean and I were dancing up a storm in the living room, just us, in silence. When the Activity Director passed by and asked what in the world we were doing, I explained to him, and he replied, “Dancing with Lou Jean is exactly what you should be doing.”
I fell in love right there. There is nothing more noble to do in my working life than to dance with those living with dementia.
What’s your biggest lesson learned since starting to work in memory care?
Individuals are so diverse that there is no one right way to do anything. I like to say that regarding memory care philosophies, every one of them is right, and every one of them is wrong. Take a human approach, and you will always be in the right.
If you could change one thing with an eye toward the future of memory care, what would it be?
We need to continue to do good work in creating equality between memory care and other senior living neighborhoods. When we are serving lobster in independent living, we should always be serving it in memory care as well. I sincerely hope we stop altering memory care environments with adaptations like life skill stations or stickers that look like bookshelves, which we would never imagine implementing in independent living. If we are honest with each other, people living with dementia reside in independent living and assisted living, yet we do a great job at creating those environments for adults. Memory care is also a home for adults.
What is the biggest obstacle to being innovative in memory care, and how do you try to overcome that obstacle?
I believe the biggest obstacle to being innovative in memory care is applying innovation at scale. It is possible to create and adopt innovation in one community, especially if innovation is part of that community’s culture. It is different to attempt to recreate that magic company-wide. I am proud to be the Corporate Director of Memory Care for SRG and work with such a small portfolio of memory care so we can see the magic sprinkle from community to community.
In a word, how would you describe the future of memory care?
Possibility
What quality must all Memory Care Innovation Award winners possess?
Passion. A passion for supporting people living with dementia. A passion for growing and supporting new leaders in this field. And a passion for deep, creative, lifelong learning to continue to elevate our craft.
If you could give advice to yourself looking back on your first day in the industry, what would it be and why?
Trust the journey. This is going to be hard work, but good work. There will be times when you are impatient for change, but oh boy, is it coming.