Outcomes-Based Training that Makes a Clear Difference
People with Alzheimer’s can live 15 years after their diagnosis—and how those years are spent matters.
Hearthstone Institute-trained staff provide those in their care with a life that has purpose where days are filled with social activities and engaging experiences. It’s a life in which they and their families can enjoy meaningful interactions, continue to contribute to their community, and look forward to each new day.
Hearthstone is internationally known for its widely-adopted innovations in memory care and its long-term investment in clinical research. Our extensive experience has proven that the years following a diagnosis can be filled with opportunities to create positive, fulfilling experiences that enable people with memory loss to live engaged and purposeful lives.
Based on this unique experience, Institute staff represent a network of professionals associated with a brand that has become synonymous world-wide with excellence in caring for the memory impaired. The Institute’s evidence-based training is based on the results of numerous in-house research studies that have measured positive behavioral change in both participants and staff as well as overall improvements in morale. Training your staff in the I’m Still Here® approach leads to a higher quality of life for your residents and more positive and satisfied staff.
Get a return on your investment in training from more customer satisfaction and reduced staff turnover.
An Explicitly Positive Approach to Memory Care
Founded in 1992 to provide innovative treatment for people with dementia in senior care settings, Hearthstone has been a recognized leader in dementia care and staff training for more than two decades.
The Hearthstone Institute’s innovative I’m Still Here® approach to memory care, based on Dr. Zeisel’s book of that name, is the only explicitly positive approach to the management and care of people living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias that is currently available.
The I’m Still Here® Approach is based on the Hope model and utilizes evidence-based, non-pharmacologic — also called ecopsychosocial — methods of working with persons living with cognitive impairments. The approach has been researched for over 20 years and has been field-tested extensively at Hearthstone’s assisted living residences. The principles used have consistently demonstrated that they increase levels of engagement, participation, satisfaction, success and quality of life for persons living with memory challenges, as well as reduce the common symptoms associated with dementia, including the Four A’s™ of Alzheimer’s: Apathy, Aggression, Agitation and Anxiety.
Our training teams work with your staff in their own work environment. We teach care givers how to integrate new skills with their ongoing daily activities and workload. The training addresses a resident’s whole day and includes personal care, dining, and activity experiences. In addition to lectures, interactive workshops and participatory exercises, members of our teaching staff who are themselves trained in Hearthstone’s own residences will work side by side with your staff to ‘embed’ lessons learned into your program. This effectively provides individual coaching to make sure new skills are understood and practiced. And more than that, we help you plan and organize staff schedules to ensure ongoing ‘flow’ of resident activities and participatory events without the need for additional staff time.
The Hearthstone Institute is part of Hearthstone LLC, which consists of four complementary organizational components, each of which plays an essential role in achieving “A Life Worth Living.”
- The Hearthstone Institute, teaches results-based best-practices to caregivers nationwide
- Hearthstone’s Memory Care Residences, provide evidence-based therapeutic programming and care to persons with dementia
- Hearthstone’s Research Division, develops and evaluates non-pharmacological interventions for persons with dementia, both in federally-funded and self-funded studies
- The I’m Still Here® Foundation develops, facilitates, and trains others on how to conduct world-class arts and cultural programming for persons with dementia that is inclusive and community-based
Thought Leaders and Innovators in Evidence-Based Memory Care
Founded by Dr. John Zeisel over twenty years ago, Hearthstone has been at the forefront of both memory care scholarship and leading-edge applications in the care setting. This leadership is evidenced by:
- Groundbreaking research and clinical trials
- Innovative therapies and program development
- Outcomes-based training systems
- Articles in professional journals and industry publications
- Consumer books on the Hope Model of caregiving
- Participation on national advisory boards
- Presentations at industry conferences throughout the United States and internationally
- Evidence-based facility design for purpose-built memory care environments
Improve your residents' lives and your market position today.