Mazatlán Extended Care Facility Expands

by Maureen Dietrich on 26 Nov 13
mazmessenger.com

The back patio where residents can sit and enjoy the garden.

In March of this year, Lois Croly of Hospice Mazatlán wrote a comprehensive article on the four assisted and extended care facilities available in Mazatlán after visiting each one. The article was published in The Mazatlán Messenger on March 5, entitled Assisted Care Facilities in Mazatlán.

Care facilities in Mazatlán are a recent addition to the community. Other than the Asilo de Ancianos on Cinco de Mayo Street in El Centro, there were no others until two years ago.

As more Americans and Canadians were drawn to retire in Mazatlán, it became imperative that someone fill the void by offering extended and assisted care to not only local inhabitants, but also to foreign residents and their families.

Day trips are planned for residents on a regular basis.

One such facility opened two years ago and is now expanding, a testament to the needs of our aging community. Originally called Casa de Las Lunas (The House of Moons), it is run by the registered civil association Plenitud con Calidad A.C. (Plentitude with Quality).

The residence, which recently changed its name to Casa Plenitud, is a home in every sense of the word, a house in the Lomas de Mazatlán residential area like any other on the street, except for its residents.
Lorena Aguilar Trillo, the hands-on director of Casa Plenitud, said there are eight elderly residents in the home at present, most of whom are disabled or suffering from Altzheimer’s or dementia and require 24-hour care.

One-on-one therapy is part of the daily routine.

For the physical welfare of its residents, the home provides a geriatric doctor, two clinical psychologists, a physical therapist, nutritionist, teacher and bilingual nurses (English and Spanish), five for the day shift and two at night.

As important as physical care is, so too is providing a quality life. National holidays, birthdays and special occasions are celebrated in-house with music and decorations, and at least twice a month residents are taken to outside activities such as day trips, turtle releases, the Carnival parade, botanical gardens, the aquarium etc. accompanied by nurses.

Families of the residents are important, said the director, and they encourage family members to visit often, have a meal around the dining room table with residents and staff and if possible, take their loved ones out for a few hours of family time.

Residents share meals at the communal dining table.

Because they now plan to offer day care services and post-operative convalescent care, and because their present residence is full, they are expanding by taking over an adjacent house and connecting it to the original home. With the expansion they can offer four additional rooms for permanent, part-time or casual residencies, along with additional staff.

At present, said Aguilar Trillo, there are two residents from the Mazatlán foreign community living at Casa Plenitud, one of whom speaks English and German, the other English, German and Spanish.

Director Lorena Aguilar said she welcomes members of the foreign community to contact her with any enquiries and would be happy to show them around the residence.

(For more information about the Casa Plenitud extended care residence, email Lorena Aguilar Trillo at contacto@plenitudconcalidad.org: website: www.plenitudconcalidad.org .)