Adapting and exporting the Dutch Hogeweyk model to the U.S. is no easy feat. But one of the largest memory care operators in the U.S. is currently forging ahead with a new concept that emulates the famous community.
The operator, Lutheran Senior Services (LSS), runs the Meramec Bluffs Senior Living community in St. Louis, Missouri. Drawing inspiration from the Hogeweyk model for memory support, LSS transformed existing long term care nursing space to establish the Towne Plaza at the Bluffs. This assisted living and memory support area within the community offers innovative and interactive support for individuals with dementia.
The new memory care wing, Towne Plaza at the Bluffs, is located within a larger life plan community, Meramec Bluffs.The memory care community has adapted elements of the Hogeweyk village model for memory care residents in The Netherlands, which memory care operators have long looked as an example of more person-centered care..
The original Hogeweyk community and model includes a dementia village in a gated community concept with open layouts and various amenities to simulate living at home for those with dementia.
Towne Plaza from LSS emulates the famed Dutch community, with 29 apartments and access to indoor “destination spaces,” such as a general store, art studio, pet shop, and florist, that effectively function as real retail and dining spaces.
The plans come as LSS is “changing our language” about memory care, according to COO Ron Schaefer.
“It’s changing how we think about it and perceive dementia,” Schaefer said. “No matter what their medical or cognitive diagnosis is, everyone has the potential to live life to the fullest every day, and we will take our lessons learned and go from there.”
LSS has 12 life plan communities in three states.
‘I challenged the design team’
Memory care communities inspired by the Hogeweyk in Weesp, Netherlands, remain rare in the U.S., with such projects hindered in part by the sheer complexity of accomplishing them. Dementia village models, as they are also known, are also hard to accomplish in the face of “ageism [and] NIMBYism,” RLPS Architects Senior Designer Max Winters told Senior Housing News last month.
There are still a handful of such projects underway or previously announced across the U.S., including one from Willow Valley Communities and an ongoing project in New Jersey by United Methodist Communities.
LSS and the team finalized the community’s design last year. Schaefer said he and other LSS leaders offered “critical feedback and adjustments” to inform elements of the community after Hogeweyk.
“I challenged the design team and had them pause and look at the Hogeweyk model and how we could replicate that knowing we didn’t have as large of a format,” Schaefer said.
The 29 apartments were designed in a variety of floorplans, including three double-apartment suites. Units have private bedrooms with a closet and a shared living room space and kitchen area.
The design includes a number of amenity spaces meant to function like the cornerstones of a small town. Designers built a general store, with a beverage cooler, ice cream freezer and a space for tabletop games. Other spaces include a library, a living garden wall with planters and cascading flowering plants and a faux pet shop with animatronic pets residents can take home and dogs they can play with in the store.
Senior living operators have worked with resident groups or garnered volunteerism from residents seeking to give back, occupy their time, or find new hobbies.
Other areas of the community include a “windows of the world” room with a large TV wall and a Tovertafel table and a harmony garden with musical instruments and other sensory experiences.
Staffing the new memory care amenity spaces are independent living residents who are trained regarding the nuances of dementia and overseen by staff.
“Having residents in the community helping out was a natural extension of our broader resident population at Meramec Bluffs, and the resident response was overwhelming,” Schaefer said.
Final design wrapped up in August 2023 until opening this July, with staff receiving additional training for interacting with those living with dementia, from dining staff to sales and marketing teams.
Future development to be informed by Hogeweyk method
While other communities in the LSS portfolio did not have the physical plant space for adapting the Hogeweyk village method, Schaefer said the organization will adapt the method in new ways at its existing communities.
He cited the ability to take elements of the Hogeweyk method at the Mason Pointe community in Town and Country, Missouri to “make it as close to a resemblance as possible.”
With the addition of 19 memory care units at Mason Pointe, Schaefer said LSS was committed to offering a “luxury resident experience” within the community’s existing footprint with a harmony garden, windows of the world space, and a multipurpose space.
“Anything we do from this point forward will have elements from the Hogeweyk, and I hope one day soon we can do something from the ground up that would be an even bigger expression of this approach,” Schaefer said.
