Walter Reed Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center in Gloucester is converting a portion of its facility from long-term care to memory care, increasing the number of beds available for residents with dementia and other memory-related issues.
Administrator Bryant Hudgins said the conversion will involve creating a secured unit in the Abingdon building, adding 28 new beds for residents who might tend to wander and who need more intervention and individual treatment than others. This will increase the number of memory care beds at the facility to 51, he said. It will also decrease the number of long-term care beds available.
Individualized, one-on-one activities will be offered in the converted unit, said Hudgins, especially for patients who don’t do well in large group activities.
Don Lundin, Vice President of Operations for the center’s parent company, Virginia Health Services, said that, in addition to the new beds, a staff education area in the Abingdon building will be converted into...