Baptist Memorials opens Alzheimer's unit
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___SAN ANGELO--Baptist Memorials Ministries in San Angelo dedicated its new Sagecrest Alzheimer's Care Center March 4, and 121 people already are on the waiting list for admission.
___Sagecrest is a 36,000-square-foot building designed to handle 52 residents with
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THE LOBBY AREA of the new Sagecrest Alzheimer's Care Center.
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Alzheimer's disease or other causes of dementia, said administrator Wes Wells. There's a "calming, homelike environment" in the center, which is located one block from Baptist Memorials' main 76-acre campus on the north side of San Angelo.
___Total cost for the center and its furnishings was $4.5 million, he said.
___Alzheimer's is a progressive, degenerative disease characterized by memory loss, language deterioration, impaired spatial skills, poor judgment, and indifferent attitude but preserved motor function, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
___There is "incredible need" for the Alzheimer's center, Wells said. And he predicts that need will grow as the population ages.
___Ten percent to 15 percent of people age 65 and older have "some form of dementia," he said. That means close to 5,000 people in the 13-county Concho Valley area of West Texas suffer from Alzheimer's or dementia. The percentages rise to 50 percent after age 85.
___Wayne Merrill, president of Baptist Memorials, released a white dove in dedicating Sagecrest. The bird, Wells said, represented "our wish for God's Spirit to be over the place" and provided a "symbol of our hope for a brighter future for the people who suffer from the disease."
___About 600 people from various denominations attended the dedication and prayed for God's blessing on the ministry.
___Baptist Memorials is one of three aging care ministries supported by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The BGCT will provide $260,000 for Baptist Memorials this year.
___Merrill expressed appreciation for the financial support of Texas Baptists and for the personal support of Keith Bruce, coordinator of BGCT's institutional ministries section.
___"Sagecrest is a project that has caught the vision of the entire San Angelo community, and it is wonderful to see this dream become a reality," Bruce said. "The ministry and witness of Sagecrest will touch untold numbers of lives in the years ahead with the love of Jesus."
___The center's name has a double meaning, Wells said. First, it connotes the purple sage that grows in the region. "It represents taking care of our people out here."
___Second, the word "sage" refers to someone who is respected for wisdom and knowledge. The 45-person staff is committed to recognizing the value in each resident, to "understanding who they were before the disease started to strip them of so much of their personality, their knowledge and who they were as a person," he said.
___Sagecrest is divided into two 26-bed units.
___The Mayfield Unit will handle patients in the early and middle stages of the illness, Wells said. That means the patients are more likely to be able to walk independently, to need only direction in eating and to have less speech loss and therefore be able to participate more in discussions.
___The Tucker Unit will deal with those in the middle and late stages. Because of more deterioration in the brain, they are more unstable on their feet, and some will need a wheelchair. They also may need assistance eating and have a higher incidence of incontinence.
___Sagecrest will use a "social model of care versus a medical model," Wells said, even though it is a licensed nursing facility. It will seek to build on roles and responsibilities that have meaning to the patient rather than having them "just sitting around waiting for medication."
___For example, those in the Mayfield Unit will wash and dry clothes or rake leaves like they would if they were home, Wells said. They will "contribute something" rather than just receive care.
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