Mercy Cedar Rapids opens innovation center for dementia, aging

CEDAR RAPIDS — Right before Alan Eilers was diagnosed last summer with dementia, about 10 years of gradual symptoms came to a head with a traffic crash.

While driving home the camper his family had vacationed in for years, he crashed into an interstate median in daylight after falling asleep. After some tests, the 70-year-old was diagnosed with mild ischemic dementia and mild cognitive impairment.

For years, his wife had noticed his new difficulties.

He had difficulty up the camper. He forgot how to put familiar things together. After a career in information technology and engineering, he overprepared to teach classes on subjects he had mastered for years.

More strongly than any other symptoms, though, the diagnosis left the Cedar Rapids man and his wife feeling depressed, limited and old. After the diagnosis, they were turned loose without resources or referrals from their doctor’s office, left to wait six months for an appointment with a neurologist.

“It felt like someone telling me my life was over with,” said Alan’s wife, Laura Eilers. “It was like looking at this big dark tunnel that was our future."

But even with the diagnosis, Alan was still himself — musically inclined, an avid reader and quick to finish word puzzles. Now, he does more errands together with his wife, drives less and reviews appointments daily, but his personality still is there.

Before long, they realized something: For many with dementia, there’s still plenty of life to enjoy, sometimes for years.

“I realized we have today, we have tomorrow, we have next month,” Laura said. “It’s not an end-of-life sentence.”

Through someone in their church, Alan was connected with a new support group piloted by Mercy Cedar Rapids for those with early stage dementia. There, he learned more about misconceptions of dementia, how to handle daily challenges and how to make the most of life.

After talking to others going through the same challenges and misgivings, resources became one of their greatest sources of hope. But more than resources, the couple found a small community of support.

“It’s not a shameful thing, just something to adjust for,” said Alan.

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The first innovation center of its kind

Months before Mercy started moving its dementia and aging services to the new the Chris and Suzy DeWolf Family Innovation Center for Aging & Dementia in June, it started piloting support groups like the one for Alan.

After seeing a demand for more connectivity and support, the new facility is part of a concerted effort to bring a new mindset to aging and dementia care.

“We want a very integrated community. This is a vibrant place where people are coming to live, not coming to die,” said Kathy Good, director of the new innovation center.

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The non-residential building at 9000 C Ave. NE doesn’t just deliver a new facility for those who are aging or living with dementia — it provides a new community center with a one-stop shop for a memory care clinic, caregivers and new support services.

The DeWolf Innovation Center, an integral component of Mercy’s new HallMar Village, is open to anyone, no matter where they live. Connected by a hallway to HallMar Village’s 237 apartments, the campus will serve as a hub of research, training and education to discover, test and evaluate best practices for helping clients live their lives with purpose.

Separately from DeWolf Innovation Center, HallMar Village’s apartments offer a similarly recalibrated focus with options based on the level of need — independent living, assisted living and long-term care.

With a $13.1 million endowment, the new center is believed to be the only innovation center in the country that is connected to a residential senior living community. Across the country, well-known innovation centers for aging and dementia are typically connected to academic institutions.

“In the past, dementia was considered a medical condition. While yes, it does have some medical aspects, we’re looking at it from the social or functional aspect,” Good said. “What are all the things that still work — instead of focusing just on what’s wrong with people.”

For those with dementia and their caregivers, the center and the people it’s bringing together are invaluable.

“It’s hard to find other people that have this, especially early onset,” said April Neuendorf, who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at 59 and has participated in Mercy’s support groups and programming. “We’ve made a difference in each other’s lives because we can talk about whatever we want. We get each other — it makes a big difference.”

Inside the building

The new, innovative approach that can be seen throughout the renovated 23,000-square-foot building will allow for continual discovery by shifting away from stereotyped thinking about aging and dementia.

Formerly home to Echo Hill Presbyterian Church, the center is a joint effort with Presbyterian Homes and Services that converted a church into a new home, of sorts.

“One of the things that was important to me was that this look non-institutional and non-medical,” said Good, who has directed Mercy’s Family Caregivers Center since its inception in 2015. “It’s a place that feels warm and welcoming.”

Inside, the Family Caregivers Center and Mercy Center for Memory Health find a new home. Exam rooms are all constructed identically, to minimize confusion.

A large fellowship hall, small fellowship hall and cafe lead visitors down a hallway lined with kiosks, each displaying a curated, vetted selection of technology and products that will help aging adults live better lives.

Visitors might find emergency response buttons that look like fashionable jewelry, extremely user-friendly computer systems to connect with family or weighted silverware helpful for those with tremors. At the front, an iPad will be available to explore “smart” products that rely on an app to operate, giving seniors a chance to explore what works for them.

“It’s hard as an older adult to figure out what to trust,” Good explained. “We will feature products we think are helpful to people.”

Across the hallway, a new showroom will feature smart appliances and household technology with the potential to make life easier. One Samsung refrigerator can allow caregivers to remotely check on which foods are expired while shopping for groceries. Another has a panel where one can write reminders.

Staff at Grand Appliance in Cedar Rapids will be trained by the innovation center in how to best help meet the needs of its clients with dementia — another example of how their model extends the continuum of community-based care.

“That’s what we hope to do innovatively — think more about what we can be doing,” the director said.

Design, down to the flooring and framed art, leaves very few details to simply be ornamental. Flooring is designed in matte, neutral tones to make contrast easier for those with visual impairments, and art is designed with recognizable objects that are easy on those with memory loss.

Down the hallway, family restrooms are designed to make it easier for spouses to help each other, even outside the home.

Outdoors, more space comes to life on the patio with seating and a painted labyrinth. As HallMar Village opens next door, the outdoor space will feature raised garden beds, butterfly gardens, a gazebo, fire pits and dog parks.

With a housing development planned around the perimeter of the land, communities will later be interconnected with walking paths.

A need for the future

By 2030, 19.7 percent of Linn County’s population will be over 65, Good said.

“There is a real market there and people aren’t thinking about how many older adults there are going to be, and how baby boomers aren’t going to stand for the things that older people stood for before,” she said.

Eventually, the DeWolf Family Innovation Center hopes to refine its model for replication across the Midwest, particularly in rural areas more acutely affected by a lack of community-oriented care options for aging populations.

For some Linn County residents in the early stages of dementia, the burden of finding care has already been relieved by the potential presented by the center — a hope that reduces anxiety about the future and gives breathing room to enjoy the present.

For most visitors making use of the center, there’s a lot of living left to do.

“It really gives me hope,” said Laura Eilers. “There’s still a whole lot of fun to be had in life.”

Comments: (319) 398-8340; elijah.decious@thegazette.com