She cites an example of aggressive outbursts being reduced —or disappearing at times — in a resident under age 65 who required chronic care due to a catastrophic event.

The Reflections by Revera program will be further measured by a University of Toronto researcher looking at before and after data from the new Resident Assessment Instrument Minimum Data Set (RAI-MDS 2.0) assessment tool now in use in Ontario.

Revera, a long-term and retirement care provider, launched the program at select sites across Canada last May in response to Alzheimer’s Canada’s Rising Tide report, which stated that the incidence of dementia is verifiably increasing.

It is based on a philosophy of care where team members join the resident on their journey as they are supported to rediscover old skills.

“Rather than creating dependence, this supports independence for as long as possible,” Raffan says.

A multi-faceted program involving recreation, clinical care and nutrition care to look at the whole person, Reflections by Revera began with 20 team members certified as trainers in the Montessori programming approach through Hamilton’s McMaster University.

This group, Raffan notes, underwent study beyond the usual two days of Montessori training, including direct case work with residents, writing a paper based on lessons learned and writing a certification exam.

These trainers fanned out across Canada and today, Raffan notes, a total of 1,500 Revera team members have been trained, including more than 600 in Ontario. And more are being trained every week through webinars and other methods, she says.

The Montessori approach, first applied to children, is based on principles of purpose, meaning and personal growth. Addressing responsive behaviours, the techniques focus on initiating a program or activity but letting it unfold with as little verbal cueing as possible so residents with memory challenges act for themselves.

It “taps into the first in, last out notion of memory,” Raffan says, so things that are habit or were just carried out recently are remembered. When that happens, she says, “you can see the delight on the face of the resident.”

The effects of the program reach beyond residents, to their friends and family members.

When focus groups were engaged during Reflections’ development, Raffan says she was struck by a family member who said, “This is what I’ve been longing for.”

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