Gianna Homes

About Us

Our Mission

Gianna Homes-Sursum Corda is a not-for-profit organization providing exceptional senior memory care in a residential home.

We demonstrate a unique understanding of memory loss and the challenges it creates for our residents and their families.

We are dedicated to preserving the dignity of an individual while providing for his or her medical, social and spiritual needs. Our care is given in a home designed to honor God, nurture family, and foster friendship.

Our Vision

We have made a home that provides a familiar and secure environment where individuals challenged with memory loss can live and thrive.

We provide ten (10) resident beds so that our residents feel that they are truly in a home and receiving personal care.

Our professional staff members are trained to provide Dementia specific care. They will provide positive solutions that anticipate the unique needs of loved ones entrusted to our care by their families. Our gifted staff creates a place that is calm and peaceful, enveloping your family member with love and harmony.

We allow for a flexible daily routine by honoring individual requests and preferences. Our high staff to resident ratio allows us the time to dignify the needs of our residents so that we can dry their tears, laugh at their jokes, and revel in each and every story they share.

We strive to know the person behind the disease. By partnering with the family we are able to adapt and comply with the psycho-social needs of our residents. Because of the decrease in cognitive abilities associated with dementia-particularly with Alzheimer's, Lewy Body, Parkinsons and Frontal Lobe - we must do our best to preserve the whole person, and support a lifestyle that is meaningful and wholesome.

Personal Care

In our person-centered approach to residential care, activities become the essence of the lives of cognitively impaired people.

Our approach to care is designed so that our residents experience life. Three elements of our program make this happen.

1. Most important are the caregivers. They are highly trained and adapt easily to the unique routines, behaviors, and preferences of each resident.
2. Next is the fine art of the appropriate use of medications to enhance life experience without diminishing personality.
3. Third is ambiance. At Gianna Homes-Sursum Corda we maintain an environment that nurtures and embraces life experiences for our residents.

The program we provide at Gianna Homes-Sursum Corda changes the experience with Alzheimer's disease from a "long - goodbye" to a positive life experience!

Dementia Care

Caregivers, both lay and professional, need to be aware that there is a direct correlation between the nature of the disease the person is experiencing and the behavior their loved one is exhibiting.

Therefore, professionals must first seek to learn about the essential person behind the disease. It is not possible to treat such people appropriately until we know the answers to the following basic questions:

• Who is the man or woman?
• What is important to him or her?
• Does he or she have different perceptions than me?
• How does he or she feel?
• What were their personality, habits, routines, hobbies, and passions?
• What is their family history?

Behavior-especially problem behavior-does not occur at random or in isolation. Behavior in cases of dementia follows a course that corresponds to the process of the disease.

The behavior of people with dementia is exacerbated by stressors such as terror, confusion, frustration, misconceptions, disorientation, and (justifiable) anger. The actions of the person afflicted are seldom premeditated, but instead are based on feelings rather than thoughts.

Alzheimer's is a disease that progresses without visible "markers." But we can observe the behaviors of someone afflicted to give us clues about that person's functional abilities. We then build a plan of care that appropriately addresses the person's needs.

Connecting our knowledge of the person and the disease he or she is experiencing to the behaviors he or she is exhibiting is to giving appropriate care to that person. Using this link is the only true way to deliver dementia care. The hope and challenge that we face is to preserve and cherish the parts of the person that are not affected by the disease.