Dementia-Friendly Design Recommendations in a World of Risk Mitigation Frances Morton-Chang, Design CoP Lead; Health Policy Consultant Sarah Clark, Alzheimer Knowledge Exchange; Canadian Dementia Resource and Knowledge Exchange

We have no conflicts of interest to disclose

Introduction Who are we? What are we here to talk about? AKE Design and Dementia CoP What are we here to talk about? “Knowledge to Practice” recommendations to achieve dementia-friendly environmental design Who is our target audience? Long-Term Care Homes (primarily) Supportive housing Individuals’ own homes Adult day programs

Knowledge-to-Practice Opportunity Current Context: design in LTC homes often does not meet the complex needs of person’s with dementia Ideal Practice: person- / relationship-centered care Gap: Flexibility in design; current ministry standards can impede this

Impact of Design Improved quality of life and dementia care (PWD, staff, volunteers and family) Reduced misperceptions and responsive behaviours (anxiety, confusion) Enhanced design for PWD will also have a positive effect on the greater senior population

Purpose of Community of Practice (CoP) Identify topic-specific innovations Translate research and practice-based evidence Help implement changes to improve care of PWD

Design and Facilitation Members self-select areas of interest Review evidence / primary literature Discuss content, highlight themes and identify practical implementation strategies Adapt Regional Geriatric Program audit tool with dementia specific findings ‘Living’ knowledge-to-practice recommendations continually edited and updated by the CoP based on practice-based and experiential knowledge

The Balancing Act Home like environment and safe care environment Client and staff (OHS & other considerations) Persons with Dementia (PWDs) and other clients Building on strengths and risk management

Audience Language reflects both setting and reader

Jurisdictional Differences Inertia re: best practices Interpretation of codes, regulations Interpretation of national building code provincially Compliance advisors interpretation of regulations Etc.

Physical Changes Marketing “pretty” and functionality Retrofitting can be expensive Good design features can be undone by poor procedures

Process Changes Who is responsible and for what? Will they remember?

Legislation Marrying multiple and often contradictory goals Home-like environment, Occupational health and safety Legislation, Fire codes Building codes Etc.

Contact Information For more about the AKE Design and Dementia CoP, you may contact: Frances Morton , CoP Lead elder.coach@hotmail.com • 416-422 -1292 Sarah Clark, Knowledge Broker clark@dementiaknowledgebroker.ca • 613-548-5567 * 5452 To see resources, visit http://akeresourcecentre.org/Design This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. To view a copy of this license, visit Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon our work non-commercially, as long as they credit us and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute our work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on our work. All new work based on ours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.