Memory care finds unique rural setting for mom and dad

A rural setting with city amenities may sound too good to be true but some future senior residents of Baldwin City, Kan. will find just that in a new senior living opportunity that also provides memory care.

The home of Baker University and the Maple Leaf Festival now provides the backdrop of a unique memory care home – Morningstar Care Homes.

The Baldwin City location, at Dunn’s Vista (adjacent to the Raymond Dunn Farm), is the fifth home started by Scott and Linda Schultz. They’ll celebrate an open house for the public this Saturday, June 2.

“There really is no home in the United States that has this level of sophistication in the treatment and commitment to total care, this conformity to the recommendations of the Alzheimer’s Association recommendations for memory care, and this uncompromisingly rural, peaceful setting. This is the cutting edge of memory care treatment in the natural setting that God created,” said Schultz.

Beyond the city amenities and natural setting the home also offers amenities such as fireplaces and home-cooked meals.

Beyond aesthetics, the staff provides individualized care, cognitive stimulation – developed by dementia experts. The spaces are said to evoke the long-term memory, despite the deficits brought on by dementia.

The concept for the home came when the owners’ grandmothers didn’t have the options of receive care in a family member’s home. They didn’t want the same institutionalized and impersonal style of care for their parents (now in their 80s).

While serving in Dehli, India, Scott found his passion serving church planting pastors – laying the foundation for the Morningstar mode of care – created under the name Cornerstone Care Hoes in India, where the vision is helping pastors become more self-supportive.

The final piece to the puzzle – the location for the fifth home – came from a BBC broadcast of an adult day care home in Oslo, Norway. The documentary showed residents enjoying nature walks, feeding livestock, splitting wood and playing music. Schultz was inspired by the concept and jumped at the opportunity when the Dunn family proposed the idea of a care home on their family farm in rural Baldwin City.

There will be an open house Saturday, June 2 from noon to 3 p.m. The open house will feature tours, presentation, food, children’s activities, live music and much more.

Residents will be able to start moving in early June. Tours and reservations are already available. However, Schultz warns it won’t take long to fill.

“Our new homes and additions typically fill in an average time of 5-6 months,” according to Schultz’s experience. “However, this home will probably be in greater demand due to the unique setting and the unequaled interior design skills of Rick Dunn, a veteran decorator and event coordinator, and of course a Dunn family member who feels the family legacy in his heart and soul.