CALA News & Views | Issue 53 | CALA at 30

for Assisted Living Residents with Dementia

Caring for residents living with dementia in Assisted Living communities has changed dramatically over the last 30 years. CALA members have been leaders in designing and delivering resident-centered care for those with dementia. As this area continues to evolve with recent changes to dementia care regulations that attempt to provide a person-centered approach that focuses on a resident’s changing needs and not just a diagnosis, CALA asked two experts in the field, Todd Shetter and Nancy Schier Anzelmo , to share their role in getting us to where we are now and what they would like to see as we look to the future.

Todd Shetter Chief Operating Officer ActivCare Living

Nancy Schier Anzelmo Principal Alzheimer's Care Associates LLC

What role did you play in the introduction of Memory Care, or caring for residents living with dementia in Assisted Living? Todd: I was working for W. Major Chance and Health Care Group beginning in 1988. I was fortunate to see the birth of secured Memory Care in California become

a new level of care through the changes to DSS regulations after the passage of SB 732 in 1995 that allowed secured perimeters in Assisted Living. I was working in the Public Relations/Marketing and Sales department of Health Care Group and created the name ActivCare, which became our signature memory care level of care following the approval by DSS.

CALA NEWS & VIEWS I ISSUE 53 | AUGUST 2025 14