Memory Care Innovation Award Winner: Robert Archer, Life Enrichment Director, Dimensions Living Appleton

Robert Archer, Life Enrichment Director at Dimensions Living Appleton, has been named to the Memory Care Innovation Awards Class of 2026 by Senior Housing News.

The Memory Care Innovation Awards program is designed to recognize passionate and innovative industry members who are shaping the future of cognitive care across behavioral health, home health and home care, hospice and palliative care, senior housing and senior living, and skilled nursing. To become a Memory Care Innovation Award winner, an individual must be nominated by their peers. The candidate should be a high-performing employee who knows how to put vision into action, serving as an advocate for those living with memory-related disorders and the committed professionals who ensure their well-being.

Archer sat down with Senior Housing News to share his journey caring for patients and residents with cognitive care needs, his thoughts on the future of cognitive care in senior housing & senior living, and much more. To learn more about the Memory Care Innovation Awards and view this year’s winners, visit https://innovation.memorycarebusiness.com/.

SHN: How long have you been working in the senior housing & senior living industry, and what has your career journey looked like?

Archer: I have been working in the senior housing and senior living industry for almost 22 years. 

I started my career change from Interior Designer/Professional Musician to Elder Care in 1998 while working part-time as the Director of Music Ministries at Christ the King ELCA. I started senior ministry groups and elder circles. After meeting with my Bishop Jim Justman in 2001, he mentioned that my connections with my older congregants was amazing and that I would be ideal for Stephens Elder ministries.

In 2003, I was offered a job with Lutheran Homes of Oshkosh as the Minister of Music for the Chaplaincy department. I spent 12 amazing years working with over 600 elders sharing my spiritual strengths, musical expertise and love of eldercare into a passion for working and journeying with people affected by dementia/Alzheimer’s disease. I helped to initiate and implement programs such as Music and Memory, Namaste Care and using Teepa Snow’s guidance.

In 2015, I accepted the position of Life Enrichment Director for Carolina Assisted Living in Appleton, Wisconsin which allowed me to begin creating the daily living philosophies and memory initiatives that are the benchmarks of my work to this day working for HDG Dimensions Living Appleton.

SHN: What inspired you to focus on caring for individuals living with memory-related conditions?

Archer: I have always loved working with people and my passion for my elders was the driving force for my continuing in memory care and elder care. My own mother was diagnosed with dementia in 2017 and my career direction made taking care of her, and eventually moving her to Appleton into my communities, the most important years of my personal life!

SHN: If you could describe the current state of memory care in senior housing & senior living in one word, what would it be and why?

Archer: Exciting!

There are so many new and exciting things happening in the directions that senior housing and senior living are taking specifically for memory care clients and families.

SHN: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career caring for individuals with cognitive needs?

Archer: People living with cognitive struggles are some of the most loving, inspiring and important teachers I have ever had the pleasure to know!

SHN: What is one change you would most like to see across the memory care landscape in senior housing & senior living today?

Archer: I would love to see mandatory training for all individuals working in elder care, especially cognitive and memory care. Our elders deserve to be treated as adults. They should be treated with compassion, patience, dignity, understanding and love.

SHN: Looking ahead five years, what do you think will have the greatest impact on your ability to deliver innovative, high-quality cognitive care?

Archer: Continuing to use the philosophies and ideals I have made hallmarks of my cognitive and interpersonal interactive style will help me to share not only with my clients, families and coworkers, but also new members of my team who will hopefully keep the memory care quality of life expanding and improving.

SHN: If you could give yourself advice on your first day serving the cognitive care needs of your senior housing & senior living residents, what would it be and why?

Archer: Always keep a smile on your face, a greeting on your tongue, a focus on your mission, and faith in the innate goodness of all people!

SHN: In your view, what qualities define a Memory Care Innovation Award winner?

Archer: The qualities of kindness, humor, joyfulness, stewardship, honesty, love, inclusion, respect, hospitality, empowerment, faith, thinking outside the box and integrity are qualities that I try to live by each day.

I think, having been selected as a Class of 2026 Memory Care Innovation Award winner, these qualities define this award!

The post Memory Care Innovation Award Winner: Robert Archer, Life Enrichment Director, Dimensions Living Appleton appeared first on Senior Housing News.