COUNTRY COTTAGE OPENS SERENITY PLACE THERAPY ROOM FOR MEMORY CARE RESIDENTS

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MONTGOMERY – Country Cottage Assisted Living & Memory Care recently opened Serenity Place, a multisensory therapy room for those living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

The Serenity Place therapy room incorporates all senses except taste through soothing music, water bubbles, lights, aromas, different textures and speakers, which create vibrations inside a couch, chair, bench and sitting area.

The therapy room, which relaxes and stimulates residents, can be utilized by one patient and one trained caregiver for up to 30 minutes and is completely customized for that individual.

Country Cottage is located near Eastdale Mall and one of 10 locations, including eight in Alabama and one each in Mississippi and Tennessee.

Multisensory therapy rooms provide a safe space for residents to explore their environment. It creates a sense of tranquility. Some of the benefits include an improved mood and a higher self-esteem. One of the community’s residents, who has Parkinson’s disease, told staff that she felt better after staying in Serenity Place. She would lie on the couch for 20 minutes three times a week and said it recharged her, according to Abby Pope, admissions director at Country Cottage. “Since the room is customized, each resident has a completely different experience,” Pope said.

It is the only assisted living community in the Montgomery area with a multisensory room. There is a similar therapy room at Children’s Harbor, a Lake Martin facility for children with serious illnesses.
The Serenity Place features the following stations:
• Fiber optic strands which change colors
• A 1,000-glass marble wall
• Bubble tube

In addition to the stations, there are dancing lights on the walls and ceiling; various colors and shapes on a wall; music, aromas and speakers inside the sitting areas, which give off acoustic vibrations that complement the stereo system. The objects can help trigger both emotions and memories.

“The room brings the higher functioning residents to a happy medium – a middle ground,”
Pope said. “Those living with memory loss are often anxious or stressed and we are able to use multisensory therapy to bring them to a level where their anxiety is eased. The room is for relaxation and enjoyment.”

The Serenity Place therapy also helps the community’s lower functioning residents. “It helps stimulate their senses where they will come up to that middle ground and have a little bit more socialization,” Pope said.

Country Cottage, which features four buildings and 72 units equally divided for assisted living residents and memory care residents, is located at 235 Sylvest Dr. For information, contact the community at (334) 260-8373. 

All rights reserved, Gumptown Magazine. Copyright 2018. 

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