TOWN SQUARE FAQs
We’re happy to answer any questions you may have about Town Square at the Jersey Shore. Below, we’ve outlined answers to many of the most common questions people have about our services.
What types of care and programming do you provide?
At Town Square, we offer comprehensive senior care services, including specialized group programming, individual care, and a wide array of activities and events.
Our team specializes in activities that promote reminiscing and engagement, and our 12,000 ft² facility mirrors a classic 1950s American town, creating a fully immersive experience in memory care for members with important memories from that era.
Our daily events are planned by professionals with decades of experience in senior care. Our professional team allows us to implement an unmatched quality of activity programming throughout our facility’s thirteen “storefronts”, which are spacious, themed activity rooms.
Visit our services page to learn more about a full array of activities and events. Continue reading to learn more about our comprehensive approach to senior care.
What are memory care and reminiscence therapy?
Memory care includes all specialized care for those with memory loss. Reminiscence therapy is a specific type of memory care: a set of techniques proven to improve mental, emotional, and social health by tapping into memories from a person’s formative years.
Memory Care
Age is the number one risk factor for Alzheimer’s and related dementias. After the age of 85, one in three people will be diagnosed with some form of dementia. As our senior population increases with the aging of baby boomers, there will be a significant increase in the number of persons who will be diagnosed.
Reminiscence therapy is a set of techniques proven to improve mental, emotional, and social health by tapping into memories from a person’s formative years. This approach was originated by George G. Glenner Family Centers.
Our Memory Care is based on a positive approach to care that acknowledges losses due to the progression of dementia, but focuses on remaining abilities, which results in more successful engagement. Our team is trained to be present in the moment with someone, wherever they are on their dementia journey, and to work toward re-establishing personal relationships and community connections, which can be desperately needed for someone living with dementia. This approach can reduce stress in people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, encourage social interactions, and help seniors feel happy and secure in their daily lives.
In short, this approach to memory care helps elderly individuals with memory loss increase their quality of life.
Reminiscence Therapy
It stimulates the mind by invoking memories from a person’s youth and young adult years. For most of today’s elderly population, that time was the 1950s.
Reminiscing activities can use art, music, and storytelling as therapeutic aids to spark conversation to achieve a range of social, mental, and emotional health benefits. Reminiscence therapy hasn’t been shown to prevent the onset of dementia. However, research shows that individuals can benefit from decreased feelings of loneliness, anxiety, or depression, along with increased cognitive abilities like attention span and awareness
Town Square’s unique approach to memory care and reminiscence therapy
Our model is the first of its kind in the country, backed by clinical research and the extensive experience of our team. Our thirteen “storefronts”, which are spacious themed activity rooms, recreate the feeling of life in a 1950s American town where homes, shops, and diners line Main Street. This design allows for our members to be immersed in the time period as they enter these rooms to share conversations, engage in favorite pursuits, and recall past times.
Activities and events involve arts and crafts, classic music and films, games, learning opportunities, seasonal traditions, and more — all drawing from our expertise in memory care and reminiscence therapy. Activities are also tailored toward our members’ individual levels of ability and needs for care.
At the heart of this model is a highly experienced and compassionate team of professionals with decades of experience enriching seniors’ lives.
What is private duty care?
Custodial care is a type of private duty care where caregivers provide assistance with more vital activities of daily living, such as taking medication, dressing for the day, meal preparation, transportation, accompaniment to events outside the home, tidying up, bathing, and getting in and out of bed.
Custodial care may become necessary because of an illness or disability, including dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. It however does not include skilled medical care.
Custodial care allows seniors to remain in their own homes and go about their daily activities as self-sufficiently as possible, with the dignity, respect, and independence they deserve.
What is custodial care?
Custodial care is a type of private duty care where caregivers provide assistance with more vital activities of daily living, such as taking medication, dressing for the day, meal preparation, transportation, accompaniment to events outside the home, tidying up, bathing, and getting in and out of bed.
Custodial care may become necessary because of an illness or disability, including dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. It however does not include skilled medical care.
Custodial care allows seniors to remain in their own homes and go about their daily activities as self-sufficiently as possible, with the dignity, respect, and independence they deserve.
What Private Duty and Custodial Care Services are at Town Square?
At Town Square at the Jersey Shore, we offer private duty care and custodial care to anyone who needs it during the day at our facility. We can also integrate this care with home care throughout Ocean County and/or transportation to Town Square through Senior Helpers of Ocean County, our own on-site home care company.
Does Town Square offer outpatient care?
Sometimes, seniors have trouble getting discharged from rehabilitation, because it’s a challenge to arrange all the visiting clinical services that are required for them to return home. If you or your loved one are experiencing this difficulty, please contact our team. We may be able to help you get discharged by providing our facility as a space for care providers to deliver your care.
What Additional Care Services Does Town Square Provide?
In addition to our activities and senior care, we offer access at our facility to a range of clinical services, including:
- Physical & Occupational Therapy
- Audiology
- Podiatry
- Counseling and Support
- Visiting Physician or Nurse Practitioner Medical Appointments
- Family Support Groups and Education
- Memory Screenings
- Community Education
What are the training and certifications of your on-staff caregivers?
All on-staff caregivers receive training and certification in a specialized dementia and Alzheimer’s program, and many come to Town Square with past experience in various areas of senior care.
Town Square at the Jersey Shore was founded by a fully licensed and accredited team in senior care, with over a century of combined experience. Their qualifications include:
- Higher Ed Degrees in Physical Therapy, Therapeutic Recreation, and other fields relevant to senior care.
- Professional Titles such as Certified Dementia Practitioner, PAC Certified Independent Trainer, Memory Bridge graduate, Certified Activity Director, and more.
- Additional experience in cardiac rehabilitation, traumatic brain injury, skilled nursing, assisted living, home care, long-term care, rehab, and adult day care.
This foundation of professional experience empowers us to facilitate meaningful reminiscence programming along with innovative, compassionate, and top-quality care every day.
What are the benefits of adult day care?
Adult day care provides many of the most sought-after benefits of senior care.
Best of both worlds (assisted living and home) — Adult day care gives working family members peace of mind that their loved ones are well taken care of throughout the day. Meanwhile, seniors can continue living at home and also interact with peers every day in a setting where their needs are met.
Affordability — Compared to full-time assisted living or hiring a private home aide, adult day care services are often more affordable. In many cases, adult day care can be integrated with home care as a cost-effective way to help seniors continue living at home while also experiencing many benefits of a senior care facility. These factors can help caregiving family members afford retirement or other financial freedoms.
Therapeutic, Engaging Activities — Seniors experience many specific benefits from adult day programming, including social engagement, mental stimulation, and regular movement and physical activity.
The Difference at Town Square — Town square takes adult day care to a new level. We work to ensure our services are highly comprehensive and beneficial to all members, offering specialized events and activity programming, along with many free resources at our Jersey Shore Family Center.
Who is Town Square for?
We welcome seniors from throughout our region to join us at Town Square at the Jersey Shore. We accommodate seniors at a wide range of ability levels, from those with full cognitive and physical function to those living with dementia, Alzheimer’s, physical impairment, and other conditions.
As an additional service, if we believe a more highly specialized degree of clinical or medical care is needed, we have the resources to provide those referrals to our families in a personalized manner.
Our programming is customized to meet every individual’s ability level and interest level, ensuring that all members and groups participate in activities appropriate to their needs and desires.
Can I attend with my loved one?
Yes! We are sometimes asked if a family member can attend to experience our programming and we are happy to accommodate. Professional caregivers are also welcome to attend with members, and in either case, participation is free of charge.
Can insurance help cover the cost of adult day care in NJ?
In many cases, members can receive assistance from their long-term care insurance or veteran’s assistance programs to attend Town Square at the Jersey Shore. In addition, health insurance may help cover the services of our on-site providers, such as physical therapy or appointments with a visiting nurse practitioner.
What is involved in payment for adult day care?
Our members can join us for full days or half days at Town Square (all weekdays, excluding major holidays). Individualized care options like transportation or private duty/custodial care, as well as on-site clinical services like physical therapy and many others, are provided separately.
Loved ones and other personal caregivers may attend free of charge.
We also offer free tours and social events, as well as free resources at our Family Center open to our members and to the public.
How is Town Square different from other adult day centers?
At Town Square, things may look like the 1950s, but we’re pioneering the future of adult day care.
Innovative Activity Programming
Activity Programming is what sets us apart from other adult day centers. Many facilities feature a single large activity space with all members participating in the same events, regardless of their individual needs. Town Square is different. We present a very specific variety of daily programs throughout our facility’s thirteen storefronts, which are spacious themed activity rooms, to meet the specific needs of all our members.
Our team includes a full-time Activity Director who manages all activities with the help of qualified activity assistants. We maintain at least a 9:1 member-to-staff ratio at all times.
Activities are scheduled in groups and tailored to the ability level of the individuals in the group, so a group of individuals with dementia will experience different activities than a group of those without dementia, and all members can be confident that their needs are addressed. Just as important — programming is also tailored to members’ personal interests.
We believe that individuals are capable of learning and accomplishing new things at all stages of life. To us, one of the most rewarding experiences at Town Square might be a 90-year-old member remarking at the end of the day, “I did something today that I’ve never done before.” That’s the kind of difference we’re here to make.
Immersive 1950s Environment
Town Square is the first adult day center in the country to create an immersive experience, evoking memories of our members’ most important years. This design not only creates an engaging, fun environment for our programming; it enables us to deliver an unparalleled level of memory care and immersive reminiscence therapy.
Our facility includes a movie theater, a music room, craft corner, recreation center, learning center, diner, a vintage car from the 1950s, a 60’ indoor Bocce court, a green central park, and many more features you won’t find at other adult day care centers. This is a highly social adult day care model, where we encourage members to learn, interact, and develop a sense of purpose.
Comprehensive Care
In addition to our daily programming, we provide access to individual private duty care and custodial care, clinical services such as physical and occupational therapy, and options to integrate our adult day services with home care and/or transportation to and from Town Square (read more above). This thorough set of services ensures we can meet just about anybody’s senior care needs.
How do I get started at Town Square?
If you’d like to experience Town Square at the Jersey Shore for yourself, please fill out our contact form or call us at 732-451-6185.
For a free tour, you and your loved one are welcome to visit our facility weekdays from 9am – 5pm, at:
1930 Route 88
Suite 14
Brick, NJ 08724
We look forward to seeing you here soon.
Contact us today to inquire about enrollment in Town Square or find your local center today!