Judson Senior Living Rebrands Membership Model, Embraces Small-home Memory Care

Judson Senior Living is rebranding its membership model and starting new development to expand the company’s reach while meeting memory care demand.

Judson’s leaders recently rebranded the company’s Judson at Home membership program, which allows older adults who don’t live on one of the organization’s three senior living campuses to access dining, wellness amenities and transportation services along with a nurse case manager and social worker. The program is now known as Judson Link, according to Judson CEO Kendra Urdzik.

With the rebranding, Judson’s leaders aim to differentiate the program from the company’s home care service line and reach more older adults who have decided to age in place or are not yet ready to transition to living in a Judson community.

“We want to see people coming in and using all the benefits of Judson, from our pools to our wellness areas,” Urdzik told Senior Housing News. “As we expand the program, we’re really building toward a one-stop shop so that when you’re living at home and need support, whether it’s a dog walker, food preparation or other vetted services.”

The membership is geared toward older adults living at home, Urdzik said. Judson partnered with a range of service providers that are “senior-friendly” and can provide referrals for anything from a concierge physician group to roof repair. Combined with the organization’s home care company, Urdzik sees the offerings as a way to reach more older adults and grow recognition of the Judson brand while providing needed services to older adults in northern Ohio.

“There are so many opportunities, and we wanted to figure out how we could help people and bring services to them,” Urdzik said.

Alongside this effort to reach more older adults aging in place, Judson is also growing through new development. Judson leadership started planning an independent living expansion at the organization’s 90-acre Franklin Circle campus in Cleveland. The organization’s internal scouting revealed a high demand for memory care, prompting a pivot to the product type.

At the same time, Judson’s assisted living and existing memory care segments were at or approaching 100% occupancy.

“We saw the need and we knew we had to make a change to support our campuses through the whole continuum,” Urdzik said. “Memory care services are in high demand and that’s why we pivoted.”

Judson’s memory care neighborhoods follow a small-home model in an attempt to “reimagine” memory care combined with its Comfort Matters care program to focus on well-being, emotional support and non-pharmacological interventions where possible. This is a new approach for Judson and the small-home model changes its memory care approach to create intimate households for older adults living with dementia.

The organization learned that “the smaller model was better” for connecting with memory care residents and creating calming and supportive environments. In the lead-up to the new development, leaders visited Otterbein senior living campuses to learn about the small-home memory care model in practice, Urdzik said. For the new neighborhood, Judson partnered with Margaret Calkins, a nationally recognized gerontologist and senior living architect.

“She was like our guiding star in this and worked along with our team to create this new model for us,” Urdzik said.

Each of the small homes will have unique elements including things like a salon in one or a small storefront in another. The neighborhood emphasizes outdoor space and Urdzik noted that “interconnectedness” was a guiding factor in the neighborhood’s overall design.

“What we envisioned is having this accessibility for our residents to be able to have more autonomy,” Urdzik said. “That’s what we envision for the future of memory care: that everyone is truly living in a part of the household and it’s not large floors and long hallways.”

The expansion neighborhood project is expected to be completed late next year with construction currently underway, Urdzik said.

Total capacity for the neighborhood will be 36 memory care residents across four homes with private bedrooms and shared kitchen, living and outdoor spaces. Underpinning the new neighborhood design was the notion that memory care providers today must focus on residents’ abilities not deficits while creating a homelike environment.

Judson also is reviewing opportunities to add small-home-style concepts across its campuses not just in memory care. Recent renovations include an overhaul of dining spaces and all these changes are an effort to prepare for incoming demand for senior living, Urdzik said. Programming is also changing with an emphasis on wellness and lifestyle, she added.

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