CAREGIVER • SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2019 • 13
BEATING ISOLATION
adno=6701235 through your situation that you might not
Bridge to Home Helps Patients Transition
to Living in their Own Homes Again
For most patients, discharge from
a hospital, skilled nursing facility or
rehabilitation center is a time of great
anticipation. They look forward to
returning to the privacy and comfort
of their own homes, where they can
continue on with their recovery process.
But some patients may feel anxious if they are not well or strong
enough to return home.
Amber Woods Bridge to Home
Program helps patients to continue
their recovery in a safe, supportive
environment until they are ready to
resume independent living. Bridge
to Home offers patients a full array
of services, including rehabilitation,
medication management, meals, TV and cable service, personal
laundry, housekeeping and recreational activities.
What sets this program apart is that patients get continued service,
support and rehabilitation for an all-inclusive, affordable price.
Patients stay in a beautiful, homelike setting for two to ten weeks
(2-week minimum), where our friendly team of nurses, physical and
occupational therapists and other staff provide services that are
customized to meet the needs of each patient.
Amber Woods features a luxurious
dining room that offers three
nutritionally balanced meals each
day, a variety of onsite recreational
activities and an outside covered
patio area. Families
are also welcome
to visit their loved
ones any time.
Amber Woods strives to make each resident and their families feel at
home and comfortable for the duration of their stay.
Located right off of the turnpike onto PA-28, Exit 11 onto PA-910.
To schedule a tour at Amber Woods, call 724-715-1043.
You can also visit myamberwoods.com for more information.
724-274-3770 | myamberwoods.com
facebook.com/AmberWoodsAtHV
have been aware of.”
Jeanni Watson is the marketing director
of Arden Courts Memory Care Community,
which sponsors not only the café at Panera
in Monroeville, but also one at the Monroeville
Senior Center and one at the Plum
Boro Senior Center.
All meet during lunch, but they’ll soon
be launching an evening café to accommodate
caregivers who work or have other
obligations during the day. They often have
a topic at their meetings, she said, but it’s
an ongoing, ever-evolving discussion of
what each caregiver goes through as they’re
trying to care for their loved one.
“Most who attend do not live in any
Arden Courts building, they’re just going
mostly for the education and the camaraderie,”
she said. “I learn something new myself
every time I go, even though I consider
myself an expert on handling dementia.
“They come up with things that are just
fascinating that they’ve discovered in their
journeys with their loved ones. It makes
everyone feel as though they’re learning
something new, and it’s so helpful for the
people that really, really need support. No
one knows what’s going to happen dayto
day with the disease, and it’s helpful to
know you’re doing the best you can.”
With the disease striking younger and
younger, Watson said they have a wide age
range of attendees at their cafés.
Sometimes they’ll have three people,
sometimes 25.
Some people have a spouse with dementia,
others a parent. Family members will
sometimes come in support of the primary
caregivers, and of course loved ones are always
welcome, although Watson said caregivers
should be aware that their loved ones
could be offended by the conversation.
“Sometimes they’ll say, ‘Are you talking
about me?’ because they’re cognitively
aware enough to understand what’s going
on,” she said. “But we feel families know
best. We have several couples who come
where one spouse is affected and the other
isn’t. So the affected spouses, too, are listening
although they may not be reacting
to a lot of the conversation, but it’s also a
comfort to the person who needs support
to know he or she isn’t abandoning that
person while trying to get themselves some
help.”
Swigart said that recently a husband and
wife came to a meeting for the first time.
He was in the early stages of dementia.
“He spoke a little about what he’s going
through and how he’s feeling and their
issues and stressful situations,” she said.
“Some people are very quiet and you can
tell they’re more there just to listen, and
that’s OK. No one’s going to force you to
say anything. It’s very relaxed and if you
want to share that’s fine and if you don’t
that’s fine.
“The conversation can go many different
directions and there’s always a lot of things
to talk about. There’s just a lot of empathy
and compassion and lots of good advice,
but nothing’s pushed on anyone. It’s a
relaxed place to just talk through things.”
Chiusano said she’s seen friendships
grow and expand from the cafés into everyday
life for some of their attendees. While it
started as something for their independent
living residents, plenty of people from outside
the community come to the monthly
meet-ups at Somma Pizza and Sports Bar
on Coxcomb Hill Road just down from the
Longwood at Oakmont campus.
There they have at least two members
from Presbyterian SeniorCare on hand to
walk or spend time with those with dementia
while their caregivers talk and relax.
They order pizza and just enjoy spending
time together.
“We’ve offered to have folks come in and
speak with them but they don’t want that,”
Chiusano said. “They like coming together,
sharing a meal and enjoying each others’
company. They say if they want someone to
speak to them they can do that anywhere.
“They’ve built pretty good relationships
here. Presbyterian SeniorCare sponsors a
Memory Café in Washington, that was the
second one, and they go to Eat’n Park on
Saturday mornings, order coffee and sit
around and chat and they had the same
response from their participants. They just
want to sit, relax, enjoy a meal and talk
about anything and everything that comes
up.
“You get people who come back month
after month, and when you find out they’re
connecting outside the Memory Café it
makes you feel good.”
Chiusano stressed that although Presbyterian
SeniorCare Network sponsors the
cafés, this isn’t about trying to get anyone
to come live with them.
“We just want to make sure people have
somewhere they can go, somewhere they
can take a break,” she said. “It’s been
well-received so it’s been pretty awesome.
We’re so fortunate to be able to do this.”
For more information about
Memory Cafés in Pennsylvania visit
memorycafedirectory.com/memory-
cafes-in-pennsylvania.