The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (IDHS) is moving forward with a plan to increase the number of dementia care centers across the state.
Over the next three years, IDHS plans to add 1,600 apartments at 40 care sites, with at least three of units slated for the metro-east area. According to St. Louis Public Radio, Cambridge House communities in Swansea, O’Fallon and Maryville are all scheduled to receive 50 new apartments each.
Apartments at the facility run about $100 per day and residents are responsible for the cost of room and board. The state covers the cost of such services as medication oversight, housekeeping and social and recreational programming.
"What supportive living offers, generally and for patients with dementia, is a chance to maintain a little bit of that lifestyle people had previous to their diagnosis,” Kelly Cunningham, deputy Medicaid administrator for long-term care and behavioral health at IDHS, told St. Louis Public Radio. “It feels less like a nursing home, less like an institution.”
The expansion comes as part of the Illinois Supportive Living Program, which bills itself as an alternative to nursing-home care where Medicaid benefits can be used for services. Under the guidelines of the program, residents reside in their own apartments and in the case of dementia patients the care facilities provides ongoing supervision.
Cambridge House of Swansea administrator Lee Bohannon-Smith told the St. Louis Public Radio timing for the expansion seems ideal as more and more people in the metro-east area find themselves in need of affordable memory-care services.
State officials expect most of the new apartments to be completed and ready for occupancy sometime next year.
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