SURPRISE, AZ — A memory care facility in the West Valley is bridging generations — and in doing so, giving its residents something priceless: new memories.
At Mosaic Gardens Memory Care at Surprise, a program called Thrive brings children from local schools and churches together with residents nearly every week to talk, laugh, and work on activities side by side.
Every resident at the facility is living with some form of cognitive decline.
"They have some form of Alzheimers or dementia or cognitive memory loss," Life Enrichment Director Christina Ramos said.
But Ramos said pairing them with children changes everything.
"I feel like when we bridge that gap, it just brings them to life," Ramos said. "It just sparks those memories. It's amazing, it's almost therapeutic."
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The work is not without its emotional weight. Ramos said people often question how she does it.
"A lot of people say, 'how can you do that?' People don't graduate from memory care. This is their last stop. So, we are at the end of their road. It's like me helping out my own family. I wouldn't leave them, or I would try to make their end days or just in general better," Ramos said.
On a recent visit, 8-year-old Ricardo connected with a resident named Gail — a woman with a lifetime of stories to share.
For Ricardo, the conversation left a mark.
"She was always listening to me," Ricardo said when asked what his favorite part of the visit was. Gail agreed, saying it was great to have someone listen to her, too.
Data shows more than seven million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer's disease, and the number of people living with some form of dementia is expected to double in the next 20 years.
