- November 4, 2024
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Market Street Memory Care wants to engage its residents by “bringing the outdoors into the community,” according to Christy Skinner, the vice president of operations.
The main plaza of the facility — which opened its doors for the first time during its grand-opening on Wednesday, July 18, at 2 Corporate Drive in Palm Coast — is decorated with benches, a live tree and a ceiling designed to look like the sky. The lights on the ceiling are also timed to change color, reflecting the time of day.
The goal: to allow residents to engage with their environment.
“Most of the time, when a resident exit-seeks, it’s when they’re feeling like they’re in a restricted environment,” Skinner said. “When you bring the outdoors in … they don’t feel like they’re restricted, and they’re not as anxious to leave.”
There are other assisted-living facilities that offer memory care in Palm Coast, but Market Street, which is Watercrest Senior Living Group's third such memory care facility, is the only one specifically designed for it.
From the "outdoorsy" atmosphere to the life-skill stations, everything about Market Street aims to stimulate its residents.
In addition, the 45,000-square-foot facility is outfitted with 64 apartments. Twenty four-hour nursing is available, and all staff members are certified dementia practitioners, which is beyond the state’s requirement for the position. Potential residents first have to meet the state regulation standard for assisted living. Anyone with a disease related to dementia may be admitted. A nurse will assess the potential resident to see if he or she meets the criteria and will also determine if the facility would be the right environment for him or her.
Market Street was issued a certificate of occupancy on Tuesday, July 17, and Skinner said she expects the facility to welcome its first residents by the end of July.
“We like to call it a failure-free environment,” she said. “It’s an environment were a resident can come in and really have the freedom to engage in a full, multisensory life experience.”