High-tech retirement home for memory care opens in Hamilton

Ressam Gardens, Hamilton’s first specialized retirement home for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s, is now open to residents.

The high-tech facility is equipped with AI sensors and is spacious enough for 60 residents. Its concept was inspired by the Netherlands’ memory-care town in Hogewey, which helps residents lead as normal a life as possible despite their chronic illness.

During an open house at the home on West 5th Street last week, Nafia Al-Mutawaly, a former McMaster University engineering professor who designed the project, recalled the hardships her mother faced after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a decade ago.

After his mother died in 2017, Al-Mutawaly realized the need to build a retirement home that could “provide the necessary care” to people with dementia and memory-related illnesses.

Patients with dementia may require more attention and patience, for example. They may sometimes experience loneliness being inside homes with fewer people to speak to.

“That’s how the idea of ​​Ressam Gardens was born,” he said.

Ressam Gardens is a vertical concept of the Dutch Alzheimer’s village. This means reimagining the Netherlands’ memory-care village, which is roughly the size of 10 football fields, into a four-storey building on West 5th Street.

The infrastructure includes smart sensors in lighting to simulate daylight and help residents sleep better, thoughtful use of wall paint such as blue for stimulating activities and green for calmness, wide hallways to encourage walking around the premises, activity rooms, large windows for sunlight and large seating areas to encourage interactions among residents.

Nada Al-Mutawaly, Nafia’s daughter, told The Spectator her grandmother felt more isolated being at home as her dementia got worse and Nafia’s wife stepped up to provide full-time home care.

“Sometimes my grandmother would remember her friends. She would say their names. They were her old childhood friends and she missed them,” Nada said during the viewing of the premises.

They say the memory-care home builds a family-like community, which was Nafia’s vision from her mother’s experience.

Ressam Gardens, named after Nafia’s late mother, opened in August and is currently home to 15 residents.

Joseph Gulizia, CEO of UniversalCare Canada, which is managing Ressam Gardens, said the residents “have adapted as well as if they’ve always been here.”

The facility offers five kinds of suites — varying in size from a dorm room-style space to a condo space with a bed, washroom and kitchenette, costing upwards of $6,000.

New residents joining the facility go through clinical assessments to better understand their needs. “There are different degrees of needs that each of our residents have, and everything is personalized,” Gulizia said.

Staff members are at the location 24 hours a day, besides an on-site family doctor as well as hair salon services. Gulizia said all staff members are carefully selected to fit the needs of the residents with dementia.

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