Why a dementia day center will open in Crosstown
An organization that provides daytime therapeutic and social programs for adults with dementia plans to open a third facility in the heart of Memphis.
The Alzheimer's & Dementia Services of Memphis last month bought the Coin Laundry building at 445 N. Watkins, across the street from Crosstown Concourse. The nonprofit organization paid $668,500 for the 87-year-old building.
The organization now operates centers from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, in Raleigh at Kennedy Park and in Hickory Hill.
"We know there's a high population of elderly in that area,'' executive director Ruthann Shelton said of Midtown/Crosstown and the neighborhoods nearby. "A high population of elderly who are in poverty. ... Since that's been our mission, to have an adult day-care program that's affordable, we felt Midtown was under-served.''
She was to meet today with architect Rebecca Conrad of ANF Architects to start planning the renovation of the Crosstown building. If all goes well, construction will start in early 2018 and be completed by late that summer. The laundromat may continue to operate there until Dec. 1.
The Crosstown facility will likely employ 40 to 45 people and serve about 50 adults, whom the staff refers to as "friends'' instead of patients.
A big need exists for such a day service in the middle of Memphis, said Laura Pate, manager of programs and education for the Alzheimer's Association's West Tennessee office.
"You would not believe the amount of phone calls we get every day,'' Pate said. "In Midtown, that's a great location.''
Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia, which is a brain disorder that affects a person's ability to perform routine activities and to communicate. Alzheimer's affects memory, language and thought. About 120,000 Tennesseans live with Alzheimer's disease, Pate said.
Alzheimer's & Dementia Services is a service provider for the VA, TennCare Choices, the state's program for the elderly and adults with physical disabilities, and for the Aging Commission. The nonprofit also serves those who pay privately, but charges on a sliding scale after families "tell us what they can afford,'' Shelton said.
The nonprofit spends $90 a day per client, but subsidizes more than half the costs to those who pay privately.
"We're not a sitting service,'' Shelton said. "We're at therapeutic-activity program.
The 7,300-square-foot laundromat building is appraised for tax purposes at $172,600. That it changed hands for $668,500 is an indication of Crosstown Concourse's impact on area real estate. The same building sold for $395,000 in 2005, $180,000 in 1998 and $60,000 in 1992, according to the Shelby County Assessor's Office.
The nonprofit explored locating inside the 1.5-million-square-foot, mixed-use building, but wanted to own its space instead of renting.
"I think it's going to be a phenomenal asset to be in that area,'' Shelton said of Crosstown Concourse. "I see so many possibilities with art students coming over and showing their art, or music, or getting volunteers from the Memphis Teacher Residency. I think the canvas is really wide open.''
