In early 2020, Miami Jewish Health will open the S. Donald Sussman EmpathiCare Village, the first residential community of its kind in the U.S. for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Unlike more institutionalized settings, where secured, structured units limit residents’ freedom, the EmpathiCare Village is designed to allow people to live as normal a life as possible.
“The EmpathiCare Village is created with a ‘purposed’ design that not only meets the needs of its residents, but leverages and elevate their strengths,” said Dr. Marc Agronin, director of mental health services, clinical research, and the outpatient memory center at Miami Jewish Health. “Residents here will benefit from both structured daily living as well as meaningful and joyful activities and routines, such as shopping at a store, eating in a café, visiting a salon or participating in a creative arts program.”
The design for the EmpathiCare Village is rooted in a similar village concept created in Hogewey, the Netherlands, where dementia sufferers have far more freedom and access than those housed in a typical memory care unit.
According to Agronin, locked institutional units, while secure, tend to be confining, especially for more active individuals. This can lead to mood and behavioral problems.
“The Village concept opens this up completely. It’s a familiar setting that provides freedom of movement and also provides a town square area where people can express themselves and interact with each other,” he said.
“The design also will encourage family members and others in the community to visit,” he added. “Many people don’t like to go to assisted living facilities or nursing homes because it can be painful to see their loved ones in those conditions. Our design does the opposite; here, the emphasis is on the strengths of our residents who are actively engaged in meaningful interactions.”
This philosophy attracted the attention of philanthropist S. Donald Sussman, founder and CIO of the Paloma Fund, who donated $15 million to help the EmpathiCare Village become a reality.
“When Dr. Agronin told me about the village in the Netherlands, I couldn’t believe that something similar didn’t exist here,” Sussman said. “People are living much longer, and at some point, many will lose their cognitive abilities. As caring people – a caring society – what are we doing to help them?
“Dr. Agronin has proven his expertise in this field; he has committed his life to this work,” he added. “But he needed a facility to optimize what he can do for this population. The EmpathiCare Village will be the ideal location to research and work on solutions so that we may someday be able to slow down, counter or even reverse dementia.”
The DesignArchitect Cornelia Hodgson, president of C.C. Hodgson Architectural Group, said the EmpathiCare Village, which will take between 18 and 24 months to build, will be unlike any other memory care community.
“This concept stimulates the rhythms of daily living in a therapeutic environment,” she said. “The living spaces will have the feel of a big house, with a residential kitchen, and all of the residential households will be linked with the village space; it’s like what you’d see walking on Main Street, with cafes, a small general store and more.”
Ninety-nine residents will live in the EmpathiCare Village, with 11 people in each household. The E-shaped building will have three floors, with three households on each floor.
“The site itself allows for the buildings to be surrounded by large landscaped courtyards, enabling everyone in the community to enjoy the outdoors,” Hodgson said. “There also will be a common house to provide a large meeting area, as well as space for performances that can serve the entire campus.”
Other facets include a fitness and therapy space as well as a creative arts workshop. With the EmpathiCare Village so accessible to the Miami Arts District, the organization is hoping to tap into arts patrons to support programs, draw in local artists, and even, perhaps, have an artist-in-residence.
“One of the most critical elements is that the storefronts and the village not look Disneyesque,” Hodgson said. “This community will have a rich feeling of authenticity, a place where residents can participate to whatever level they can.”
Because the EmpathiCare Village will be open to the community, visitors will enter through a Welcome Center where they will be greeted and given a brief orientation.
“For security purposes, if you live in the village, this is not an obvious exit point,” Dr. Agronin said. “If residents do try to exit, staff members will engage with them and redirect them. Every other point of exit is secured and monitored, and all residents will be monitored by technology so that the staff knows where they are.”
Although the building will open in a couple of years, staff training is already underway to adapt to the different approach of caring for people with dementia. When residents go to lunch at the café, for example, nursing assistants will act as escorts for groups moving through the village. The architectural design will be instrumental in allowing the residents to engage with the environment to every extent possible.
“This kind of free access is a tremendous difference in philosophy,” Hodgson said.
Dr. Agronin added: “Staff will not just be passively monitoring residents; they will be actively engaging with them. We are recognizing the innate empathy that people have and shaping it in ways to maximize its effectiveness.”
