By Janet Cruz

It’s never too late to add some spark and social time to one’s schedule. Lake View Terrace Assisted Living and Memory Care is making sure to do just that to help their residents stay active and assist with memory care.

“We do different activities to tie that into their learning process in our Spark Program,” said Lake View Terrace Assisted Living Marketing Director Jennifer Capavilla.

In the Spark Program, residents are exposed to lifelong learning activities, community involvement projects and even fun social hours which include a charcuterie board-making happy hour.

“Happy Hour is the residents’ favorite social activity here,” adds Capavilla. “They love that.”

Photo courtesy Jennifer Capovilla/ Lake View Terrace

The  program is geared to residents who are experiencing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease and  uses Montessori methods that were first introduced by Dr. Maria Montessori. According to Capavilla, those methods involve getting the residents engaged, active and empowered by engaging in mental and rehabilitating activities.

“We really feel that it helps our residents develop their place in our community,” adds Capavilla.

Aside from social hour, residents are empowered to use their skill sets to lead an activity or join a committee among their peers to learn a new subject as part of their life long learning program.

“We will be learning about travel and airplanes, we have a resident who lives here who is an expert in aerospace so we we will be building mini airplanes with our residents and learn how to make the best airplanes,”said Capavilla.

Residents also participate in the community in the capacity in which they can. Pretzel dipped snack making is also  a favorite since they are made by the residents and are later donated to local organizations or offered in the lobby at Lake View Terrace for people to enjoy.

“Even if our residents aren’t always at every community event, they love being part of the process and involved,” adds Capavilla.

Exercise, gardening, reading clubs, learning and outings are also some of the activities that the residents are exposed to.

Photo courtesy Jennifer Capavilla / Lake View Terrace Assisted Living

“Rather than looking at Dementia or Alzheimer’s as a disease, we prefer to look at it as a disability,” said Capavilla. “We are going to find tools, different resources to help each resident full fill their goal in any way they are still able to.  We will find even modifications to make those things happen,” she said.

Lake View Terrace has been offering services in Lake Havasu since 2009 and also serves residents countywide. Areas served include Lake Havasu City, Kingman, Bullhead City, Antares, Colorado City, Golden Shores and Yucca.

Lake View Terrace is located at 320 North Lake Havasu Ave. For more information on the Spark Program or Assisted living options  at Lake View Terrace Assisted Living Memory Care, call 928-296- 8961.