Ridgefield Station Awarded Purple Flag for Dementia Care™ Accreditation

Pictured from left to right: Christopher Carter, President of Connecticut Assisted Living Association, Rudy Marconi, Ridgefield First Selectman, Joe Simone, Ridgefield Station Executive Director, and Tadd Clelland, President and CEO of Senior Living Residences

Ridgefield Station has earned the Purple Flag for Dementia Care™ Accreditation by demonstrating conformance with the requirements of 60 practice recommendations identified to enhance the quality of services provided to residents in Assisted Living communities and clients of other senior living settings living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Ridgefield Station, an assisted living and memory support community managed by Senior Living Residences, underwent a rigorous audit this past winter of the documentation and materials that were submitted to demonstrate best practices in care programs and conformance with the requirements of each of 60 practice recommendations across 10 content areas.

The Purple Flag for Dementia Care™ Accreditation standards, which make up a quality framework and specific elements of care programs, are considered to be essential and valuable in making a difference in the care for a person living with dementia.

It is estimated that more than 6 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s, and that number is expected to rise to nearly 13 million by the year 2050 (Alzheimer’s Association). One of the goals of the Purple Flag program is to educate the consumer and offer assistance during a time of need by presenting a tool that identifies current best practices for dementia care and a process of evaluating those practices. 

“We’re proud to have Ridgefield Station fly the Purple Flag for Dementia Care™ at their community. Ridgefield has demonstrated great leadership not only in the area of memory care, but also in the field of senior living,” said Christopher Carter, President of Connecticut Assisted Living Association (CALA). “We are hopeful that this accreditation award continues to raise awareness of the Purple Flag initiative as we commend Ridgefield Station for its continuous quality improvement efforts in resident safety and quality of care.”

“I want to thank Purple Flag. Like us here at Ridgefield Station, they believe there is a right way to care for those living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and they have set out on a mission to raise the bar in care settings from Assisted Living communities like ours to Nursing and Skilled Care facilities and Home Care,” said Joe Simone, Ridgefield Station’s Executive Director, at their flag raising ceremony. “To our Ridgefield Station team, it is your commitment to improving residents’ quality of life, to providing an extraordinary level of care and compassion to our residents day in and day out, that is what we are really celebrating here.”

“I want to share how special this occasion is to Senior Living Residences and of course Ridgefield Station. When I began 26 years ago in this field of senior living, the memory support neighborhoods were absolutely not what they are today, and it was our mission to create an environment that treated the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other memory related disorders that focused on individuals’ abilities, not just the inabilities,” said Tadd Clelland, President and CEO of Senior Living Residences. “This new standard that is being created by CALA and ISLE is so timely and important to make sure that we raise the bar for the entire industry so that we can improve the quality of life of all seniors living in memory support neighborhoods.”

“The town of Ridgefield is proud to be home to one of the first Purple Flag accredited communities in the state of Connecticut,” said Rudy Marconi, Ridgefield’s First Selectman. “This honor further validates Ridgefield Station’s great reputation in our community.”

Purple Flag is a collaboration of the Institute for Senior Living Education, (ISLE), The Connecticut Assisted Living Association (CALA) and the CT Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association serving in an advisory capacity.

Ridgefield Station is the 6th organization to receive a Purple Flag accreditation, the first of 2023.