Mercy Cedar Rapids is thinking about aging and dementia differently as it opened The Chris & Suzy DeWolf Family Innovation Center for Aging & Dementia on June 12. A ribbon cutting will take place to welcome the center at 11 a.m. June 22.
Located at 9000 C Ave. NE in Cedar Rapids, the center is a place of continuing discovery and implementation of best practices. It will seek to find ways for older adults and those living with dementia to live more satisfying and fulfilling lives. Family caregivers are supported to make caregiving easier and to help them and their loved one live with meaning and purpose.
The center is attached to HallMar Village, a 237-residence senior living community co-developed with Presbyterian Homes & Services, that will open in the fall.
The DeWolf Innovation Center is the only known innovation center in the U.S. connected to a senior living community. Its proximity to HallMar Village will allow residents to easily access these services, which are also open to the public, as well as be the first to trial new developments.
Imagined in its inception as a living classroom, Director of the Innovation Center Kathy Good said in a statement that it was carefully and thoughtfully designed with age- and dementia-friendly best practices incorporated into the layout, décor and programming model. Many of these same concepts will be applied to HallMar Village.
“My personal experience as a care partner for my husband, Dave, helped me visualize the creation of both the Family Caregivers Center, which will have a second location at the center, and the DeWolf Innovation Center,” Ms. Good said in a release. “The number of individuals living with dementia is increasing, as is the number of adults who are aging: 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 years old every day in the U.S. Mercy is committed to identifying and creatively and innovatively meeting the needs of these growing populations.”
The center’s namesakes, Chris and Suzy DeWolf of Cedar Rapids, donated a $2 million lead gift because of the center’s potential to transform the lives of older adults and those living with dementia.
“We see this gift as an extension of our responsibility to the Cedar Rapids community,” Chris DeWolf, president and CEO of Lil’ Drug Store Products, Inc. and a member of Mercy Medical Center’s board of trustees, said in a release. “We believe the Innovation Center for Aging & Dementia has the potential to change the trajectory of dementia research and, thus, the way people with dementia live, and that’s something we’re pleased to support and nurture. We want to be part of the contemporary solution in addressing this growing public health crisis.”
