Taking Care of Memories

The HUD-insured facility features five acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, walking trails that curve through the wooded landscape past a courtyard with a fourteen-foot-high waterfall, a wishing well, gazebo and a garden for growing fresh flowers or vegetables.

Montclair Park was designed around the Eden Alternative Concept introduced by Harvard Geriatric Specialist Dr. William Thomas. This concept shows how companionship, the opportunity to give meaningful care to other living things, and the variety and spontaneity that mark an enlivened environment can succeed where pills and therapies often fail. Places that have adopted the Eden Alternative typically are filled with plants, animals and are regularly visited by children.

So at Montclair Park, pets are part of the picture. Residents are encouraged to bring their pets with them. If they choose not to do so, they may adopt one of the many varieties of pets that live at the facility - swans are everyone's favorite, not to mention the proclaimed smartest African Gray parrot in the world that is tutored daily by most of the residents.

And if all of that was not enough, Montclair Park introduced a Memory Care Center, designed to provide up-to-date technology along with activities to promote and maintain the dignity and self-esteem of each resident suffering with Alzheimer's. This technology provides the resident maximum privacy while ensuring their safety.

Montclair Park is the first and only facility of its kind in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas to offer a unique emergency response and monitoring system that promotes fellowship, independence, dignity, and self-esteem for those with memory impairment. Motion sensors allow staff to monitor residents' movements inside the facility.

Now home to more than fifty residents, ground breaking was held recently for another 40 units. Dr David Abdehou, the visionary leader who dreamed, designed, and developed Montclair Park, is determined to continue to "create a better way" for retirees to live their years in a warm, compassionate, and secure atmosphere that fosters and encourages independence with meaningful activities.

Dr. Abdehou's vision filters to the dedicated staff and to his son, Jordan, and nephew, Sam, who spend volunteer time in service at the site. They are learning lessons from seniors in ways that will add value to their lives and those with whom they interact.