Making people feel safe and comfortable has been a big part of Carisa Brown’s career. She’s worked as a nurse for 26 years, mainly in acute care settings. Carisa was recruited into assisted living leadership by an ICU colleague, which put her on the path to her current role. Today, Carisa is the executive director at Villagio Senior Living and has been there for just over three years.
“I used to think I would never want to leave the bedside for acute care, but my view has completely changed,” says Carisa. She says she enjoys the combination of teaching, leading, and influencing the job provides, not just to staff but to families and residents. Seeing “that spark” when people learn something new, she says, is inspirational.
Villagio has six locations across Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado, but the Broomfield location is the only one here. It focuses on memory care for age-related memory loss, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. The community is split into three different spaces, with two smaller villages featuring 16 apartments and a larger village with 20 apartments. Select units are double occupancy.
The name isn’t just a fun spin on an Italian term. The first thing people notice on arrival is the décor.
“It doesn’t look like a facility, so we use the term community instead,” Carisa says.
Villagio features thoughtful accents throughout, like bright and natural light (also purposeful for memory support because of vision changes with dementia), Tuscan décor, and designer colors.
Each resident’s care plan at Villagio is determined by an interview with the family and individual focused on needs, wants, likes, and habits. That interview, Carisa says, helps determine how much support one needs. The approach is based on the Montessori principle, giving residents more choice in their living situation. That means including tasks or activities that a resident finds purpose and joy in. Even something as simple as doing laundry, Carisa says, can be an anchor for some residents.
“Every person needs to have a purpose, and that doesn’t change if we age or lose cognition; we still need to have a purpose in life,” she adds.
Villagio also holds community-wide activities to keep residents engaged. Days typically start with socializing over breakfast and programming in the common area. That’s typically followed by physical activities to strengthen hand-eye coordination like balloon volleyball Chair-Chi. These exercises help prevent falls and other injuries.
Afternoons are typically reserved for family visits, brain games, and entertainment. One of the most popular games at Villagio is true to Colorado form—Cornhole. It’s so popular, in fact, Carisa says, that Villagio holds weekend tournaments.
Along with enriching activities and family visits for residents, Villagio provides residents with healthy, nourishing meals focusing on nutritious options like superfoods. For October, the menu centered around foods like pumpkin and seafood.
Villagio’s concept of care extends to family members of residents. They offer respite care for individuals who need a place for their loved ones to stay if they’re going out of town. Often, Carisa says, this service has a 90% conversion rate.
“While they were doing just fine at home, they do even better in this community,” she explains. “Then the family member sees that and says ‘wow, this could be so much better.’”
The facility also strives to maintain strong relationships with families with the safe and supportive environment it provides for residents. That includes strict adherence to COVID protocols and an open environment where everyone feels welcome, Carisa states.
“I’ve worked in communities where residents in memory support never saw their families, and that’s just not how it is here,” Carisa says. “Families always talk about how caring the staff is. They know that their loved one is at home when they’re here.”
It’s that kind of care that makes Villagio a vital place for residents and members of the larger Broomfield community.