By KENNY KEANE, Globe staff reporter
June 12, 2003

CARROLL - The culmination of five years planning and nearly two years constructing the new Alzheimer's unit at St. Anthony Nursing Home in Carroll took place on June 8 with a dedication led by Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo.

The ceremony, which was held in the south garden area just east of the nursing home chapel, was an opportunity to bring the past five years to a new start for the whole unit, according to Gary Riedmann, president of St. Anthony Regional Hospital and Nursing Home.

"It's been a lot of planning, construction and moving residents around, and this was really a recognition that the program is in place," he said. "It also gave us a chance for the families and residents to come together and just celebrate the event, including the bishop's dedication ceremony. It really formalized the commitment to dignity for all of our residents at St. Anthony.

"It also really was a major accomplishment for our community. It was a $7.5 million project, and of that approximately $3.1 million was donated by our community through its Campaign for Dignity fundraising effort. So it's been a very positive, appropriate, wonderful program to meet some of our community needs. The community turned out and was just very pleased with the final product of the construction, and the environment is just wonderful."

This Alzheimer's project includes a new two-story wing extending east of the nursing home. The lower level of the new wing is an 18-bed secure Alzheimer's unit, which is specially designed with an enclosed outdoor courtyard and garden that will allow residents to enjoy a natural setting without fear of wandering away.

Special consideration has been given to interior elements such as furniture, lighting, flooring and coloring in order to surround residents in a calming environment designed to retain privacy and dignity.

In addition to the new Alzheimer's unit, the existing adult daycare has been significantly expanded to accommodate up to 20 individuals who need varying levels of daytime care. The nursing home has also been completely remodeled, making it virtually impossible to distinguish the new construction from the former nursing home rooms. All nursing home residents are now located on the upper level of all three wings.

"We built this place back in 1963, and a lot has changed since then - a lot of new thinking on dealing with problems that people might have, particularly independence in wheelchairs," said Wanda Stephenson, director of St. Anthony Nursing Home. "We incorporated a lot of new construction ideas in designing the rooms, not only for the Alzheimer's residents but also for the rest of the residents of the home to make their lives a little bit better.

"Our Alzheimer's unit is, I think, probably the vision that led us to the whole project. We realized that in order to provide the type of care that would give these people the dignity that they needed to live their lives as fully as possible, they really did need their own special area and environment that kind of allowed them to be as free as possible to do whatever they wanted to do. So hopefully we're seeing the vision for the future and are going to be able to meet it with our changes here and just be ready for the next 40 years."

Riedmann said the real significance of this whole project was the overwhelming number of families in the area who were found in the planning process who have been significantly touched by Alzheimer and dementia issues.

"It's an important issue for people throughout the region," he said. "We were able to really address some very significant needs that families were feeling. We believe that from the needs we found from the families that this project will be extremely helpful and supportive.

"I think the exciting part of the project is recognition of the efforts that our staff put forth at the nursing home. The commitment to our residents as family members that each of our staff members take is amazing. It's really nice and supportive to have a facility and an environment that helps them do that the best they possibly can."