Senior Living Community Expands Care Services to Meet Rising Needs of Aging Population

HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL - With Illinois's senior population soaring, a local senior living community has invested almost $1 million to meet the growing need. Brookdale Hoffman Estates Golf Road, managed by Brookdale, will expand its dementia care services through the project. This project is part of a capital and investment and community management joint venture between Brookdale and Health Care Properties (HCP), further solidifying the long term relationship between the two companies. Brookdale Hoffman Estates Golf Road is located at 2150 West Golf Road.

The project consists of converting existing space into new apartments to add a service at the community called Clare Bridge Crossings. Clare Bridge Crossings is designed for those who are in the early stages of dementia. Brookdale, the nation's largest dementia care and senior living provider, developed Clare Bridge Crossings based on the newest findings about the disease.

"Studies are showing it's possible for people in the early phase to maintain abilities and even slow the disease's advancement by participating in activities that build up brain synapses and resilience," said Juliet Holt Klinger, Brookdale's senior director of dementia care program development. "This is the focus of Clare Bridge Crossings' programming, which also provides residents the wonderful benefit of daily joy and purpose."

Those residing in Clare Bridge Crossings take part daily in activities that engage mentally, socially and physically. On a given day, they might visit a museum to discover its exhibits, learn square dancing as a way to practice processing information and moving the body, write their life stories in a journal or expand their horizons through technology.

This renovation allows Brookdale Hoffman Estates Golf Road to add 19 apartments that are dedicated to Clare Bridge Crossings as well as additional common areas for this unit. While the community has had the capabilities to care for those with Alzheimer's or other dementias, this addition will allow the treatment of those at earlier stages in the disease.

"This expansion of our Clare Bridge Alzheimer's and dementia care program gives us more capacity to meet needs as they change and evolve," said Brookdale Hoffman Estates Golf Road executive director Cheryl Black.