WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia. Behavior and personality changes. Memory loss and related problems challenge a growing number of Americans.
Novant Health neurologist Andrew Evans said he can relate with many of their situations. Not only has he seen memory issues in plenty of patients over the years, but he saw dementia symptoms up close growing up when his grandmother moved in with his family. Although Dr. Evans said his grandmother wasn’t officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease — which he said was often the case at that time — the symptoms were all there as his grandmother went through significant changes in behavior and eventually didn’t recognize him and his mother.
“The more prepared you are for different stages of this illness, the smoother it will be,” Dr. Evans said. “Preparation will also relieve a lot of caregiver anxiety for patient families. The hard decision for a lot of patients is do I put Mom or Dad in a nursing home, do I take them into my home or do I strike down some of their independence? I think the best situations I see are the ones where the patients are collaborative with their families.”
Novant Health is opening Novant Health Memory Care in Winston-Salem on Aug. 16. The new clinic, an idea whose inspiration and design was a collaborative one among Evans and his colleagues — many also personally touched by the condition in their families — will be devoted solely to caring for patients who have memory issues, as well as caring for those who are part of the patient’s support system. The new facility will allow Novant Health the opportunity to bring specialized care into a single location, as well as do the important work of integrating the relationship between caregiver, patient and healthcare providers.
“We’re trying to make this as comfortable to the patient as possible,” Evans said. “Patients with memory care problems need a structured routine to help keep them calm and help them remember to focus their day. We prepare for the worst and hope for the best and making the clinic more homelike and comfortable helps the patient with all their interactions.”
Providers at Novant Health Memory Care will include neuropsychologists Will Acree, PsyD, and Tiffini Morris, PsyD. Also joining is geriatric nurse practitioner Karen Byrd, the practice’s primary provider who comes to the clinic from Novant Health Stroke Bridge Clinic and Novant Health Neurology in Kernersville. Dr. Acree comes to the clinic from Novant Health Psychiatry.
The new clinic is warm and welcoming and was designed with patients and families in mind. The walls are a soothing shade of blue. Rather than the standard exam beds patients are used to in most doctor’s offices, the new facility opted to go with recliners, couches and love seats, to make patients and caregivers feel more at home.
Novant Health Memory Care is located at 140 Kimel Park Drive, Suite 102. The clinic is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Currently, the clinic is not taking self-referrals and new patients must be referred from either a primary care physician or a neurologist. For more information about the new clinic, please call 336-718-7300 or to find a neurologist or neurosurgeon near you, please visit novanthealth.org/neuroprovider. Novant Health is committed to memory care and focuses on providing patients and their families with the support needed to cope with this life-changing illness.
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