The Abe's Garden® community was developed by noted specialists in the fields of geriatrics, aging design, and lighting.
Vanderbilt University
Abe’s Garden® is establishing best practices for dementia care through its collaboration with Vanderbilt Center for Quality Aging (VCQA). John Schnelle, PhD, (founder of VCQA) and Sandra Simmons (recipient of Alzheimer's Association research funding and participant in its grant review process) are continuously involved with design of management approaches and data collection. Schnelle and Simmons have also co-authored three published research papers with Abe’s Garden® staff:
- “A System for Managing Staff and Quality of Dementia Care in Assisted Living Facilities” in the Journal of The American Geriatrics Society, July 2018.
- “A Quality Improvement System to Manage Feeding Assistance Care in Assisted-Living” in The Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (JAMDA), March 2018. An accompanying video can be viewed by clicking here.
- “Managing Person Centered Dementia Care in an Assisted Living Facility: Staffing and Time Considerations” in Gerontologist, June 2017
Vanderbilt Medical Center’s Victor J. Legner, MD, and nurse practitioner Mattie Godfrey have joined the Abe’s Garden® team to provide on-site physician care for residents.
In addition, three Abe’s Garden® benefactors established the Vanderbilt University Abram C. Shmerling, M.D. Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease and Geriatric Medicine. This faculty member is providing opportunities for Vanderbilt to lead and direct key partnerships for applied research on dementia.