Belmont Village to inaugurate senior housing in Thousand Oaks

Belmont Village Senior Living will officially open its 20th community in August 2011 at 3680 N. Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks.  The company has opened an on-site Information Center to provide details about leasing and the care and amenities that will be available for residents.

Belmont Village Thousand Oaks will provide Assisted Living services, plus proprietary memory enrichment programs such as MBA Club®, designed to help active residents maintain mental fitness, Circle of Friends®, an award-winning program for residents with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and Person-Centered Living®, a dedicated program for residents with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia.  

"As both a developer and operator of senior housing, we feel a particular responsibility to provide not only a beautiful place for our seniors to live, but also a place where they can continue to grow and thrive," said Patricia Will, founder and CEO of Belmont Village Senior Living.  "Just as we've continued to develop communities to meet the growing senior housing demand, we've also continued to develop strong, research-based programs for mind and body, in anticipation of the growing need."

According to U.S. Census data, as of 2010, approximately 19 million people - 6% of the population - were aged 75 years or older. This segment is projected to grow steadily for the next 10 years, and then experience a significant jump as baby boomers age. Currently one in eight people aged 65 and older, and nearly half of those 85 and older have Alzheimer's disease.  As many as 10-20 percent of people 65 and up are thought to have MCI, an established risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.  Experts foresee a coming spike in demand and a sustained need for adequate housing and care, along with early intervention, where possible.

"We recognized several years ago that there was an under-served segment of the assisted living population. They didn't need Alzheimer's or dementia care, but did need a little more cognitive support than is typically offered in assisted living," said Will.  "We went to work to develop what has become our Circle of Friends program for MCI.  We piloted it five years ago, and the positive impact we've seen on the lives of our residents and families has been phenomenal.  It's become essential to what we do."

Belmont Village was recently selected for a George Mason University Health Care Quality Improvement Award for its Circle of Friends program and its work in identifying and addressing issues of Mild Cognitive Impairment in its residents.