Spotlight on Provider Innovations: The Memory Care Village at Eddy Memorial Geriatric Center
Provider Overview
In 2025, the Eddy Memorial Geriatric Center of St. Peter’s Health Partners received a $3.9 million award from the New York State Department of Health Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program (SHCFTP) IV, for the “creation of a Dementia Village for residents of their 40-bed Memory Care Unit, utilizing vacant space formerly used by the Eddy Daybreak program.” The project will receive $2 million from the Samaritan Eddy Foundation through a capital campaign, and the James A. Eddy Memorial Endowment is providing $3M in support.
Opportunities for Improvement
Nursing homes are heavily regulated to protect vulnerable residents, but prioritizing risk mitigation may come at the expense of a home-like environment, choices in daily routines, and participation in activities that are health-promoting but may create risk. For example, facilities must minimize fall risks, so residents may wear grip socks instead of shoes; others may be transported by wheelchair, even if they are able and want to walk. Such limits on mobility and autonomy are trade-offs widely accepted as the price of risk reduction.
Resident care is organized around a structured schedule, like in a hospital, and most facilities struggle with staff retention. Staff turnover can be especially challenging for residents with dementia, for whom rigid structures and unfamiliar caregivers are linked to increased confusion and agitation.
Innovative Model
The Eddy Memorial Geriatric Center is developing a Memory Care Village. The project was inspired by Alexandra Smith’s, the Executive Director of Eddy Memorial and lead for The Eddy’s Alzheimer’s Service Line, visit to Hogeweyk® in the Netherlands, which has popularized the “dementia village” model. This new project in Troy, NY will be the first in the nation to retrofit an existing nursing home facility to operate under the dementia village model.
The project aims to create a more home-like environment and a staff culture that gives residents with dementia greater freedom, autonomy, and normalcy compared to the typical nursing home environment. Residents will wake, eat, socialize, and move through their day on their own schedule, in spaces designed to feel like home.
Building on the fall-risk example, the “village” model encourages residents to wear shoes and walk, when physically able, to promote their independence and physical activity. Resident safety remains a priority, with staff assigned to “village” areas—an approach that will help residents build familiarity with their surroundings and caregivers.
Facility design and operational choices will draw on the Dutch model while adapting to the constraints of modifying an existing nursing home and complying with the relevant regulatory standards. A local architect who designed the existing facility is collaborating with a Dutch architect familiar with the Hogeweyk® on the retrofit. The project team is working with New York State Department of Health staff to identify and address regulatory considerations as the plan is developed and prepared for the New York State Certificate of Need process.
Next Steps and Goals
Eddy Memorial ultimately intends to renovate its facility around the memory care village model in phases, starting with a pilot before full construction begins: two areas of the existing campus will each host eight current residents during the day, 16 residents in total. Residents will continue to sleep in their current rooms at night, but their daytime activities will move into the pilot spaces. Each pilot area will have its own dedicated staff team, who will begin practicing the new model's approach to care. The pilot will test the new routines and staff methods before the full renovation proceeds.
Lessons from the pilot will inform the design and operation of the full transformation. Design development drawings are nearing completion and will be followed by the NYS DOH Certificate of Need and City of Troy approval processes. Construction is currently anticipated to begin in fall 2027 and proceed in phases over approximately 18 months, allowing residents to be relocated as sections of the existing facility are renovated.
Through this process, Eddy Memorial hopes to develop an approach that improves residents’ quality of life and preserves mobility and independence while remaining workable within the U.S. nursing home environment. The organization also expects that a more resident-centered model will improve the working environment for staff, in turn improving staff retention and recruitment.
Because this is a renovation rather than a new facility, the project may provide a useful model for other nursing homes in the State and in the country considering implementing similar approaches in existing facilities.
Evaluation
Eddy Memorial is developing a comprehensive mixed-methods evaluation to assess the implementation and impact of the Memory Care Village model. This evaluation will employ a pre-post design and incorporate both quantitative and qualitative data collection to better understand the experiences of residents, caregivers, and staff, as well as the model’s effects on resident outcomes and care delivery.
The quantitative component will examine outcomes identified as important indicators of dementia care quality, including resident mood and behavioral symptoms, medication use, physical functioning, safety outcomes, and healthcare utilization. For the qualitative component, a collaboration has been established with Tufts University faculty specializing in qualitative research. Through interviews and open-ended questionnaires, the evaluation will explore residents' experiences of daily life, autonomy, safety, belonging, relationships, and engagement in meaningful activities, while also gathering perspectives from family caregivers and staff on the implementation and impact of the model. In addition, validated questionnaires will be administered to residents and caregivers, alongside additional questionnaires for staff, to assess quality of life, well-being, autonomy, social connection, satisfaction, and perceptions of the care environment.
Findings will help determine whether the Memory Care Village model can improve quality of life, support resident autonomy and independence, enhance the experiences of caregivers and staff, and serve as a scalable model for dementia care within existing nursing home settings. Results will also inform dissemination efforts aimed at sharing lessons learned with dementia care and long-term care stakeholders across New York State and beyond.
