The Lantern at Morning Pointe New Alzheimer’s Center of Exce

In 2017 Morning Pointe Senior Living opened a freestanding assisted living community at 1001 McCutcheon Creek Lane in Spring Hill. Last year Morning Pointe added an adjacent 33,000-square-foot memory care community, one which is specifically designed to meet the needs of senior residents with Alzheimer’s disease and related conditions.  

“The Lantern, our Alzheimer’s Center of Excellence, serves residents of all stages of memory care from early onset of dementia to the more advanced stages of Alzheimer’s,” explains Will Brewer, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Independent Healthcare Properties & Morning Pointe. As such, the two communities complement each other, much like they do at many of the other properties that Morning Pointe operates in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Indiana.

That is, residents move into the assisted living part of the community, “but as their needs change they might need memory care and then it’s an easy transition from assisted living to our memory care building,” says Brewer. He notes that Morning Pointe has a similar pair of communities in Franklin, as well as facilities in Brentwood and Columbia. 

But whether residents live in one of the 70-plus apartments in the assisted living community at Spring Hill or one of the 44 apartments in the memory care center, everyone enjoys premier amenities and farm-fresh produce and food, not to mention physical and occupational therapy and wellness programming. “We have a lot of engaging programs, and there is a lot of life enrichment going on in the two buildings,” adds Brewer.

For The Lantern residents, that includes Morning Pointe’s trademarked Meaningful Day program, which focuses on each individual’s interests and life experiences, and allows for “personalized” programming, as opposed to a “one size fits all” approach.

Morning Pointe also utilizes the approach favored by leading dementia expert Teepa Snow, who created the Positive Approach to Care model of Alzheimer’s and dementia caregiving.  

“We also use the Best Friends™ approach, a program that approaches memory care from the standpoint of ‘You really want to become best friends with the residents, and once you become a trusted friend they start feeling comfortable, and you get a better response from them,” explains Brewer. 

At the same time, Morning Pointe also provides ample support for family members of people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 

For one, The Lantern (Spring Hill) hosts a monthly virtual support group for caregivers of people with dementia and Alzheimer’s that features nationally recognized geriatric neuropathologist Dr. David Hutchings, as a regular guest.  Dr. Hutchings helps families cope with the challenges they face in caring for a loved one with memory impairment, and being part of a virtual support group helps remind everyone that others are experiencing many of the same challenges and frustrations.

Yet one of the biggest differentiators between Morning Pointe and its competitors are the nurses and staffers, says Brewer. “People help you do a lot of things, and when you have the right people in the right buildings, good things happen.”

CONTACT THE LANTERN AT MORNING POINT ALZHEIMER’S CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

1003 McCutcheon Creek Ln.

Spring Hill, TN 37174

(931) 451-0950

Click here to schedule a tour.