Woodlands Senior Living, a family-owned company that operates assisted living and memory care facilities at six locations in Maine, is building a 64-bed memory care community at 45 Mollison Way in Lewiston. The specialized care facility is for people with Alzheimer’s disease, other dementias, and related memory impairments and will be the first purpose-built from the ground-up memory care facility in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

“We are pleased to be able to offer much needed memory care services to families in the Lewiston-Auburn area,” said Matthew Walters, chief operating officer for Woodlands Senior Living. “We opened our first memory care facility 15 years ago and have continued to invest in our people and facilities, drawing on the best research and practices in memory care from around the world.”

Walters said that Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia affect not the just the person, but family members and loved ones as well. He noted that Woodlands Memory Care facilities are built specifically to care for the growing number of people with memory impairments and feature a modern, secure environment and trained staff members who are committed to making each day the best it can be for residents and their families.

The 39,000 square foot community planned for Lewiston will feature 28 private rooms, 18 double rooms, including 36 MaineCare beds, and will be divided into two identical but separate 32-bed neighborhoods.

Other features will include a large, open-air central atrium in each neighborhood to allow for ample natural light and easy but secure access to outdoors for residents; high efficiency individually zoned climate control system (air conditioning-heating); a video monitoring safety system; private bathrooms in all resident rooms; multiple home-like areas for residents to engage with others, including a television room, reading room, activity room, home-style resident kitchen, and a larger group activity area and common area with fireplace; and a large outside courtyard with walking paths, gardens, and a gazebo.

The facility recently received final approval from the City of Lewiston. It will cost $6.5 million to develop and will employ 40 full-time employees when completed. Construction will start immediately and is expected to be completed by October of 2015.

The first Woodlands Senior Living Alzheimer’s care residence opened in 2000, now with locations serving the Waterville, Brewer, Hallowell, Rockland, and Cape Elizabeth communities. There are currently more than 25,000 Mainers living with Alzheimer’s disease. Nationwide, 5.3 million Americans are living with the disease, and that number is poised to grow to as many as 16 million by 2050. For more information about Woodlands Senior Living, see www.woodlandsmaine.com.