Inside The ‘big Opportunity’ Of Implementing Next-gen Memory Care Practices

Memory care providers are improving their services, engagement and lifestyle offerings to meet changing preferences among residents.

Today, memory care providers are raising the bar for operations by using technology and clinical data to improve the overall experience for residents. They also are adding wellness and lifestyle elements into memory care settings and making programming in independent and assisted living settings more inclusive of memory care residents.

“What we’re trying to do is successfully support people in both the early and late stages of dementia, which is, in my opinion, something that is often overlooked. There is a lot of opportunity there,” Belmont Village President Mercedes Kerr said during the 2026 NIC Spring Conference in Nashville.

Through its “Circle of Friends” memory care program, Houston-based Belmont Village Senior Living creates structured programming for residents with both early- and late-stage cognitive impairment. This has helped evolve the company’s operations away from viewing memory care as a homogeneous unit, instead creating stage-specific cohorts with programming adapted to each group. The program was started following a partnership with Vanderbilt University as part of the company’s “successful aging” strategy, focusing on wellness rather than just supporting cognitive disease management.

Other memory care providers, including LCB Senior Living, Goodwin Living and A Paradise for Parents, are also taking steps to evolve their programs, from creating open-source training modules to adapting culinary and lifestyle efforts to focus on brain health and prevention.

Programs Rely on Evidence-Based, Preventative Brain Health to Spur Change

The memory care sector is shifting from passive activity calendars to proactive, research-informed brain health strategies that emphasize prevention, non-pharmacologic interventions and personalization in 2026.

LCB Senior Living launched its virtual reality-based React Neuro program to measure brain health and personalize wellness strategies for residents. The program originated in the National Football League (NFL), where it was developed in part by neurologist Rudy Tanzi to assist players sustaining head injuries. LCB adapted the program to “digitize” the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to test for cognitive impairment and dementia, according to Amber Evans, LCB Senior Living Vice President of Memory Care and Resident Engagement Services.

“We’re using this for quality of life,” Evans said during the NIC memory care panel. “The difference is there isn’t subjectivity from the assessor regarding the resident’s space, time and environment.”

In conjunction with Dr. Tanzi, LCB developed a neurological wellness model that focuses on sleep, handling stress, interacting with others, exercise, learning new things and diet—known by the acronym SHIELD.

“Our special sauce is prevention,” Evans added. “Prevention is where we really stand, even though the Alzheimer’s Association would say we’re in the age of treatment.”

Through SHIELD and React, LCB memory care communities create activities and engagement in conjunction with established clinical principles. This empowers engagement directors to shape programming while accessing cognitive assessment data, allowing for greater personalization.

With these programs in place, LCB has seen 80% of memory care residents improve their original cognitive exam results after participating in programming centered on SHIELD principles, Evans said.

Alexandria, Virginia-based Goodwin Living created StrongerMemory, a free and open-source brain health program based on research to combat mild cognitive decline through simple 30-minute exercises. These tasks include reading aloud, writing by hand and practicing basic math skills to stimulate the prefrontal cortex.

The program was initially developed to help a loved one. Goodwin Living CEO Rob Liebrich noted it grew after he assessed brain health research from Japan, which found that simple daily tasks like reading aloud and basic numeracy showed signs of cognitive improvement.

Goodwin Living worked with an occupational therapist to create a curriculum for assisted living and memory care residents. The results were “remarkable,” Liebrich said, noting that residents were sleeping and eating better simply by performing these tasks.

“Doing these three things was a statistically significant way to improve cognition,” Liebrich said.

The StrongerMemory program has undergone independent review with George Mason University and other groups to collect pre- and post-test data. The program is available to all organizations and older adults alike; so far, 76% of participants have shown improved cognition, Liebrich said.

Hal Cranmer, owner of A Paradise for Parents residential assisted living homes, said he witnessed incidents in other care homes that led to uninteresting engagement and a focus on keeping food budgets “as low as possible.”

“My conscience bothered me and I couldn’t allow that,” Cranmer said. “So I started looking into how we can get better.”

In founding A Paradise for Parents’ locations, Cranmer focused on engagement that supports brain health and a culinary program based on ketogenic principles to reduce inflammation and diabetes risk factors. Cranmer also partnered with LearningRx to improve cognitive skills through its “BrainStrong” program for adults over 50.

Family Engagement Improves, Outcomes Evolve

As more senior living providers pivot toward evidence-based programming, operators are seeing improved outcomes for residents and better communication with families.

LCB’s React Neuro program feeds data into an application that can be tracked by residents, families and staff. This data is combined with engagement opportunities, like Tai Chi or stress-reduction classes, to create a “report card” for families to see how their loved one is doing, Evans said.

The React Neuro program also tracks indicators like falls, the death of a loved one and new medications. This helps staff better understand each resident and allows for clearer communication with families regarding health changes or daily activity participation.

In Belmont Village’s “Circle of Friends” program, residents are grouped by cognitive levels to help staff fine-tune activities. Belmont Village also launched a sensory-focused memory care program at its Mexico City property that is now expanding to U.S. communities, Kerr said.

By designing curated sensory experiences around sound, touch and environment, the company has seen a reduction in distress behaviors and greater engagement among residents whose families previously believed they were no longer benefiting from structured programming.

The model also allows Belmont Village to rethink where high-acuity residents live. Kerr noted that they can sometimes move residents who are no longer flight risks out of secured units into other licensed areas while maintaining memory-care-level staffing and rates.

The Next Decade of Memory Care

The next decade of memory care will be shaped by closer relationships between senior living providers and healthcare systems, the speakers said during the NIC panel. The goal is to reframe dementia not just as a terminal diagnosis, but as a condition that can be positively impacted by lifestyle and non-pharmacological interventions.

Liebrich said he aspires to make StrongerMemory accessible to more families through closer partnerships with CMS or by rolling the curriculum out through library systems nationwide.

Belmont Village maintains a research component within its memory care program through a partnership with the University of California San Diego. Kerr noted that this partnership has helped modify and evolve the company’s approach.

“I consider this very late stage to be somewhat overlooked and I think there’s a real opportunity because we’re living longer. Having solutions around that is important,” Kerr said.

Evans added that the future of memory care rests on advancing prevention and lifestyle efforts. She expects memory care providers will soon be judged not just on hospitality and safety but also on their ability to demonstrate outcomes that slow cognitive decline.

“Information is only as powerful as what we put into action,” Evans said. “How do we use that for good?”

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