Certus Living Bolsters Wellness, Memory Care With ‘life By Design’ Philosophy

Certus Living is launching a new wellness program and bolstering its memory care program in an effort to keep up with the rapidly changing senior living customer base. 

Certus Living operates five communities in the Midwest and is based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. The company recently applied for and received a trademark for the phrase “living life by design,” based on the company’s philosophy on senior care.

Certus President and COO Jeff Amann told Senior Housing News the new tagline is in response to what the company feels is a mistake the industry is making by emphasizing aging in place. The phrase embodies the company’s pursuit of helping older adults live with purpose, thrive in their environment and align daily programming and lifestyle with individual priorities regardless of the care setting. 

“We believe the whole reason for doing this trademark and thinking about our philosophy really means there is purpose to what we do, to help older adults thrive,” Amann said. “This trademark helps to actually broaden that.”

To evolve operations and align with the codified trademark, Amann said company leaders developed operational initiatives around supporting resident lifestyle and wellness while also focusing on brain health and memory care efforts. The company modeled programmatic changes around the International Council on Active Aging’s standards to support “active aging and wellness” for older adults living in Certus communities, Amann added.

The Elevate wellness program is a multidimensional approach to senior lifestyle curation and programming across three pillars: healthy body, healthy mind and healthy spirit.

The healthy body element was shaped around fitness classes, nutritious meal planning, dietitian support and sleep health optimization. The healthy mind element of the wellness program is aimed at brain fitness activities and includes lifelong learning opportunities along with physical programming like yoga and tai chi. The healthy spirit element emphasizes life coaching, social connections and mentoring, Amann said.

The Vitalize memory care program is closely linked to the company’s wellness efforts, Amann said, noting that elements of brain health and fitness were important parts of care across the continuum, not only in memory care. The program is built on strong staff training, universal workers who provide consistent faces and support and an emphasis on calm, meaningful experiences. Above all, Vitalize is designed so that residents with memory loss can still live with a sense of purpose, not just be kept safe.

“You want to make sure that we’re meeting people where they’re at in their lives and what they believe is purposeful for them at that time,” Amann said. “We’re wanting to make sure that these programs really hone in on that.”

Vitalize focuses on creating calm and comforting conditions for older adults living in memory care while providing staff education and training to improve interactions with older adults experiencing cognitive change. Programming based on brain health is an important pillar of the new memory care effort, focusing on resident engagement and social interaction, Amann said.

With the new program, Amann said Certus memory care teams now have more resources to help address and prevent adverse resident behaviors associated with sundowning by adjusting programming around resident routines and environmental factors. Instead of only watching TV or being passively entertained, residents have direct input on programming.

For example, a retired teacher could help staff host a reading group. Programming for the new memory care effort also includes elements approved by the Alzheimer’s Association as best practices in dementia support, Amann noted.

Paying attention to dining within memory care, Amann said elements like plate color and contrast to stimulate the appetite of residents living with dementia were important along with creating a calming environment while dining.

Certus uses universal workers across its communities. Staff take on multiple roles in care, activities and support so that residents can become familiar with staff in memory care and reduce disruptions or adverse behaviors. But hiring and training universal workers is still a challenge because it requires people who are “patient and emotionally suited for memory care,” Amann said.

“You want to find people at every level who are truly passionate about memory care,” Amann said. “Memory care programming and services are not easy.”

Crucial to the success of the new wellness and memory care efforts is the executive director position at all Certus communities, Amann said, noting that the top leadership community post can make or break the rollout of new programming or changes in operations.

“We can’t underestimate that if an executive director is not engaged, none of it will really come together the way it should,” Amann added. “When they are active and supportive of these efforts, it will infuse into the other people that we hire and that passion is what drives a community forward.”

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