Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media

Carrol Houser, 87, poses inside his private room at the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Carrol Houser, 87, poses inside his private room at the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Edgehill Retirement Community Executive Director Christopher Barstein points to a new rooftop area which will be available during the warmer months. Photographed in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Edgehill Retirement Community Executive Director Christopher Barstein points to a new rooftop area which will be available during the warmer months. Photographed in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

A list of the daily activites sits in one of the common areas inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

A list of the daily activites sits in one of the common areas inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

One of the common areas inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

One of the common areas inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

The Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

The Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

One of several dinings areas inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017. Residents can also eat in an area on their floor.

One of several dinings areas inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017. Residents can also eat in an area on their floor.

The Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

The Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

One of the common areas inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

One of the common areas inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

The excercise room inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. is adjacent to a pool. Photographed on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

The excercise room inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. is adjacent to a pool. Photographed on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Edgehill Retirement Community staff work with residents to keep their minds active and fresh. Photographed inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Edgehill Retirement Community staff work with residents to keep their minds active and fresh. Photographed inside the Edgehill Retirement Community in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Residents of the Edgehill Retirement Community get to choose between several options during each meal. Photographed in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Residents of the Edgehill Retirement Community get to choose between several options during each meal. Photographed in Stamford, Conn. on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Memory care center highlights improvements at Stamford retirement complex

STAMFORD The needs of todays senior citizens continue to evolve and so have the range of services offered by one of the citys largest retirement communities.

Representing a landmark project in its 19-year history, the Edgehill center at 122 Palmers Hill Road completed earlier this year a $21 million expansion and renovation. The upgrades include a new memory-care wing for residents who have Alzheimers and other forms of dementia, an expanded skilled-nursing facility with more private rooms and improved independent-living accommodations.

Our residents come in independently and live in independent-living apartments, Christopher Barstein, Edgehills executive director, said in an interview last week. And as needs arise, they can move onto a traditional assisted-living environment, and they can move onto a skilled-nursing environment. But what was missing was that dedicated, specialized memory-care environment.

Covering 15,700 square feet on Edgehills third floor, the Harbor Wing memory-care center contains 22 apartments. Harbor Wing also includes a dining room, activities area and two patios.

Certified dementia practitioners staff Harbor Wing. They assist residents throughout the day.

I like living here a lot, 87-year-old resident Carrol Houser said during an interview last week. They are very friendly.

To maintain and strengthen Harbor Wing residents cognitive capabilities, Journey Stations aim to engage them in a memory or take part in activities that interest them. Those stations include a sewing machine, fishing rod, tackle box, art brushes, paint and a canvas.

More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimers disease, which represents the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Alzheimers Association.

Demand has grown nationwide for memory-care centers such as Harbor Wing because of the extent of care required by seniors with dementia, said Dr. Patrick Coll, medical director of senior health at UConn Health in Farmington.

For folks who need continuous supervision, if they have a family that has time and resources, often well see families wholl work it out among themselves to be there for Mom or Grandma, Coll said. But for some folks thats not an option, because theyre busy with work and other commitments, and thats why these residential options are now available.

Edgehill also made extensive changes one floor down from Harbor Wing. As part of the overhaul of its second-floor skilled nursing facility that covers about 24,000 square feet, Edgehill increased the number of private rooms from four to 42. The skilled nursing center now has 46 beds, compared with 60 before the renovation.

When you see the changes that are happening at the (Stamford) hospital right now all private rooms, brand-new facility the expectations in this market are for that same thing, a (skilled-nursing) facility with a high level of finish, with additional amenities and, most specifically, private rooms, Barstein said.

Creating the memory care center and refurbishing the skilled-nursing complex involved significant reconfigurations including the relocation to the ground floor of assisted-living units previously located on the third floor and expanding the footprints of the second and third floors.

The improvements to Edgehills 216 independent living apartments included an enlarged casual dining restaurant and several new amenities such as a rooftop garden, a parlor and entertainment room, a fitness center and a massage therapy room. Edgehill also includes 10 assisted-living apartments.

Construction work for the renovation finished in January, after starting in March 2015.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott

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Memory care center highlights improvements at Stamford retirement complex - CT Post