Meet Dorothy – Known for her infectious laugh and twinkling eyes, she is always ready to have a good time and a good chuckle. Dorothy is in her 90s and full of life! Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, Dorothy has, as she puts it, “trouble with my memory,” but does not let it hold her back from getting out of the house and getting time with her friends at Grace Center.
Dorothy has been coming weekly to Grace Center since 2016. She is a widow and, because of her memory loss, Dorothy cannot live alone safely anymore so she moved in with her adult granddaughter, and grandson-in-law and their two children. “We know she’s very well cared for and getting social activity with people her own age. Finding a social outlet for grandma was very hard to accomplish before we found Grace Center. When she gets home, she talks about her friends there which includes the staff as well.”
Always ready for a good time, Dorothy loves to go on Grace Center community outings to places like the county fair, the farmers market, and museums. She also loves the monthly outings to the Corvallis Elks Lodge for the special luncheons as well as the days when the next door childcare little ones or Linus Pauling Middle School art students come to visit. You will find Dorothy at the dominos table in the afternoons – watch out, she is both competitive and lucky! When asked why she likes to come to Grace Center, Dorothy simply stated, “I don’t know, I just do!”
Grace Center’s building is set up to keep Dorothy and other participants with dementia safe and engaged. Safety is promoted through secured exits so a participant cannot accidently leave the building and become lost and engagement is promoted through our various activity rooms and our therapeutic multi-sensory environment room. Dorothy’s family expressed that having her in their home is “a match made in heaven” and is made doable by having Grace Center in their lives. “Grace Center is Grandma’s place.” And Dorothy says, with a giggle, “It’s my second home.”
