Cloverdale’s Czorny Alzheimer Centre offers a safe home for 72 dementia patients and is specially designed to provide both psychological security and comfort. Located in a quiet rural setting, this long-term care home, consisting of six, 12-room cottage living spaces, is tranquil by design: the architecture reflects an innovative, holistic, person-centred approach to dementia care. Specially designed pathways allow for continuous wandering routes past gardens and points of interest while keeping residents safe.
An interdisciplinary team of caregivers provides resident-focused care, 24 hours a day. The Centre offers recreational activities, communal kitchens, living rooms, a hair salon, a dance hall and a post office. Meals are tailored to the needs of residents and served individually. Each resident room has a memory box outside its door, to house old photos and mementos.
The Centre encourages volunteers to play music, read to residents, or help in the garden. Pets and children are welcome to visit. This follows the Eden principles of care, which seek to eliminate loneliness, boredom and helplessness through individualized care and connection with nature. The Alzheimer’s Society operates an onsite resource centre.
Czorny Alzheimer Centre, which opened in 2007, is named after Michael Czorny, the father of Surrey benefactor Marilyn Stewart. Marilyn and her family watched Michael battle the disease for nine years, and in memory of him and his wife Nancy (his primary caregiver), they provided the land as well as donating $10 million in capital funding. Surrey Hospitals Foundation was gifted Czorny Alzheimer Centre in 2017; Fraser Health Authority operates it.