An engaged journey: Complete coverage of the 2014 OPTIMA Award winner

Coverage of Long-Term Living's 2014 OPTIMA Award winner—including the main article, companion articles, photos, video and a blog—are gathered here for your convenience. All editorial pieces contain links to all the other components as well.

2014 OPTIMA Award: An engaged journey

This year’s winner of the Long-Term Living OPTIMA Award, Benchmark Senior Living, has taken dementia care programming far beyond reminiscing, brain-games and once-a-day-activities. Here's the story of how its award-winning programming got started, and how the lives of residents can be changed when engagement happens all day long instead of just during "activity hour." [Includes Photo Gallery]

Six dimensions of engagement

Benchmark Senior Living's program uses six dimensions of engagement in its memory care program to stimulate different parts of the brain and keep residents with dementia involved and focused.

Reading series keeps residents with dementia learning

Keeping reading skills honed helps those with dementia stay focused throughout the day. Benchmark Senior Living's program uses hundreds of reading booklets to keep residents' minds engaged in learning new things.

Morning pledge [VIDEO]

Reciting the pledge of allegiance, singing patriotic songs and discussing the day’s events are part of the morning gathering at The Atrium at Drum Hill, a Benchmark Senior Living memory care community in North Chelmsford, Mass.

My trip to relearn memory care [BLOG]

Editor-in-Chief Pamela Tabar shares her experiences from her two-day visit to The Atrium at Drum Hill, the first Benchmark Senior Living site to use Benchmark's expanded memory care program.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.