SERVICES

Special Care (Alzheimer's) Design

The Crestuk Group is home to some of the most innovative pioneers in the Senior Living industry. Since our 1994 work on New York State’s first Social Model for dementia care in an Assisted Living Facility, The Crestuk Group has introduced this special care solution via “household” settings in facilities across the State. 

Joseph A. Crestuk, President of The Crestuk Group and a licensed Architect and Planner, has specialized in Health, Long Term and Elder Care planning, design and development at local, national and international levels for over 27 years. A recognized authority on 21st Century healthcare and senior living communities, Crestuk has addressed the National Council on the Aging, the NYAHSA Training Institute and Assisted Living Summit, the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the Adult Day Care Frontier.

His unique expertise in healthcare design, technology and development led Crestuk to create an innovative consulting and architectural design firm. Unlike traditional firms, The Crestuk Group integrates Information Technology, Development and Consulting, and Architecture and Planning to provide a full spectrum of development, design and infrastructure services.

As members of the Alzheimer’s Association, The Crestuk Group is networked at the national level with other leaders in our field. Through our varied association member-ships, affiliations and working partnerships, we keep abreast of the continually emergent changes and opportunities affecting senior care services. The Crestuk Group is dedicated to creating, renovating and preparing facilities to care for dementia residents in the 21st century.

We have taken an active role in the National Alzheimer’s Design Assistance Project, conducted by the Institute on Aging and Environment at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The primary purpose of this Project was to advance the state of the art of designing environments for people with dementia.

The three goals of the Project were as follows: 
1. To increase the public’s awareness and appreciation of the therapeutic potential of the designed environment; 
2. To encourage innovation in the planning, programming and designing of new environments in the continuum of care; and 
3. To create positive impacts on national policy, regulations and emerging trends in care environments through the implementation of exemplary projects.

The National Alzheimer’s Design Assistance Project met its three goals by informing, assisting and actively engaging care providers, architects and other professionals in the planning and design of Special Care Environments for persons with dementia. The Project’s mix of presentations, discussions and hands-on experiences enabled participants to learn new concepts and test their understanding in interactive, small group activities . 

As one of these activities, Joseph A. Crestuk led a design experience in which small participant teams evaluated, programmed and designed a dementia care environment. An existing skilled nursing facility, Attic Angel Association’s Nursing Home of Madison, Wisconsin, served as the setting for the team exercise. This facility had proposed to convert one of its two wings into a dementia-specific unit and the other into adult day care for people with dementia. Existing floor plans (see page 3) and visual images of the facility were presented to familiarize the participants with the context and to assist in generating design solutions.

The team members engaged in the following four- step process: 
1. Environmental assessment of existing facility
2. Development of a functional program
3. Development of an architectural program
4. Generation of design solutions

The team’s resulting concept sketch (see page 4) shows a renovated facility with adult day care and special care units. A former reception area is now Main Street, complete with ice cream parlor, café and wellness center, among other functions. The daycare is connected through the courtyard. The outdoor spaces, all carefully planned for a variety of activities and experiences, include a potting area, pergolas, umbrella tables and a front porch . During the National Alzheimer’s Design Assistance Project, team members used this actual floor plan of an existing facility proposed for conversion to Alzheimer’s care. The team’s new concept sketch of the conversion appears on the next page.

All of Crestuk’s team members, whose names are listed below, were very proud of this new concept sketch that they developed. As a result of this experience, these team members returned to their facilities with a refreshingly new understanding of the needs of Alzheimer’s residents.
 

The Crestuk Group specializes in the planning, design, renovation and technology systems required by facilities that care for residents suffering from early- to mid-stage Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. The creation and licensing of an Alzheimer’s facility requires numerous processes such as developing a feasible concept, acquiring waivers from the state, and generating specialized designs and specifications. 

The Crestuk Group’s leading edge in dementia care consulting and design is apparent in the projects in which we have been and are currently involved, such as the following:

Bethany Village - Horseheads, NY 
Converted two wings of Assisted Living into two households to care for Alzheimer’s residents. Facilitated licensure, quality control, operations and staff training.

United Church Home - Buffalo, NY
Developed their first Alzheimer’s household and created the model then used by the facility to create two additional households.

Presbyterian Church Home - Rochester, NY
Completed New York State’s first Alzheimer’s conversion of an Adult Care Facility by renovating two floors of an existing Adult Care Facility..

Bellevue Manor - Syracuse, NY
Renovated an existing wing of an Adult Care Facility into a 20-unit Alzheimer’s household. Services provided included management, staff training and quality control.

Kirkhaven - Rochester, NY
Designed the addition and renovation of 3,500 sf to the top floor of an existing Skilled Nursing Facility, resulting in a warm, homelike environment for Alzheimer’s residents.

Grande Ville - Greece, NY
Converted a 40-unit Adult Care Facility wing into two households for early- to mid-stage dementia, one household consisting of 17 and the other of 18 units. Facilitated DOH licensure application and approval, operations, staffing, training and marketing.

Grande Vie - Penfield, NY
Converted a 21-unit Adult Care Facility wing into a 20-unit Alzheimer’s household. Other services included DOH licensure application and approval, operations, staffing, training and marketing.Genesee County Nursing Home - Batavia, NY
Feasibility study and design of a new Alzheimer’s support addition and upgrade and modifications to a floor of an existing Adult Care Facility, including staff training.

The Wesley Group - Rochester, NY
Reviewing existing Upton Court at Wesley for possible Alzheimer’s renovations and staff training.

The Lutheran Homes - Clinton, NY
The development concept of a rural based Assisted Living Program with Alzheimer’s households and shared support i.e. Kitchen, bathing, etc.

Liberty Park Assisted Living - Cheektowaga, NY
The development of an 84 bed Assisted Living Program with two households (12 beds each) of special care including Alzheimer’s and early to mid stage dementia. Providing design, marketing, operations, and management services.


Below is an example of way finding for an Alzheimer’s household:

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