If you encounter Lorie Warren at Avenir Memory Care of Knoxville (conveniently located on Concord Road in Farragut), you won’t miss her. She’ll be wearing a costume (she was a pirate when I saw her) and have two yellow parakeets on her shoulder. (Yes, they’re real birds.) She’ll also have a friendly chihuahua trailing after her.
Lorie’s big personality is even more remarkable than the costume and the menagerie. She’s the life enrichment director at Avenir, and it’s her job to engage the 55 residents who live in the facility’s three “neighborhoods.” She’s a certified dementia practitioner so she knows what she’s doing.
Lorie Warren
Her toolkit for engaging seniors is extensive. During Covid, field trips were discontinued, so residents connected with the world via virtual tours and webcams. (Puppies and international sites were popular.) Now, residents are ready to do it all, she says. Recent trips include Foothills Parkway and Ijams, and future trips to KMA and the Sunsphere are planned.
“I feel like they’ve got a bucket list, and I’m trying to help them cross things off.”
Another way Lorie engages residents is with animals. Most had pets in their younger years, so having the opportunity to interact with animals is meaningful, she says. Her chihuahua, Rudy, is popular, as is a bearded dragon that spends time at Avenir. The resident parakeets, Tweety and Big Bird, are a big hit.
“Every resident in the facility has held these birds. They always create a smile,” she says.
Avenir offers many activities, some that are surprising for a memory care facility. Higher-functioning residents can participate in a Tools Club that builds small items. The club recently built fidget blocks – blocks of wood with different kinds of locks – for lower functioning residents to “fidget” with. It was such a successful project that the club plans to make samples to send to the 12 other Avenir facilities.
Lorie rolls around a cart heaped with interesting items and projects, like a 100-piece kit for a four-cylinder engine. Some residents are retired engineers who still retain the skills for such projects, she says. The video game Mario Kart is also popular, and even those who no longer have the ability to play enjoy holding a remote control and pretending. Art classes, held in a large art room on the campus, also offer activities for varying abilities.
Getting residents involved in the community is an important part of the emotional health of residents. Lorie has plans to invite local children’s organizations to participate in a remote-control Grand Prix this spring that will feature fair food and a DJ. Residents have delivered painted onesies to ETCH and regularly bake cookies that are delivered to local businesses.
“Anything to make them feel like what they do matters,” Lorie says.
One of the most important ways she connects with residents is through one-on-one conversation. With dementia patients, that sometimes means disengaging from reality. She “joins them wherever they are,” even if they think they’re 5 years old. She doesn’t argue with them or try to bring them back to reality, and she encourages family members to do the same.
“Whatever’s going on, you hop on board,” she says.
Lorie first visited the Avenir facility as a geriatric massage therapist. She eventually began teaching exercise classes, then art, then cooking. After Covid hit, she signed on full time. She loves the work and the residents.
“This is my bucket list. I love them with all my heart.”
Town of Farragut marketing and public relations coordinator Wendy Smith is your reliable Farragut insider.