Inside Pegasus Senior Living’s Evidence-based Memory Care Philosophy

Pegasus Senior Living is preparing for a future in which the industry must cater to higher acuity needs and cognitive care.

The Dallas, Texas-based senior living provider in 2025 is continuing to grow its Connections memory care program, which is based on neuroplasticity and cognitive stimulation therapy with personalized brain health initiatives. This is all led by Dr. Sandra Petersen, who is the senior vice president of health and wellness at Pegasus.

Today, Pegasus operates 41 memory care communities serving over 800 residents with 30 of its memory care communities almost entirely full, showing the strong demand for memory care services.

Petersen joined the organization in 2020 and since then has implemented research-based practices in memory care with an emphasis on data and personalization.

“We can slow the progression of dementia if we’re consistent,” Petersen told MCB. “We’re seeing great upside from it both in the quality of life for our residents but also improvements in our length of stay.

Growing Connections program relies on personalization, research

To implement the model, Petersen said Pegasus has added “evidence-based mentorship” for staff that relies on research, data and proven best practices rather than informal and variable peer-to-peer staff relationships.

“We can train our staff and help them not only to understand what we’re doing with the residents but how can we help them have a better quality of life,” Petersen said, with the company’s brain health initiative focused on neuroplasticity and “connecting with the emotions” of memory care to “reconnect the synapses in the brain” to help adults living with cognitive decline have quality of life.

Since its rollout five years ago, clinical leaders at Pegasus have shaped the programming that has been most effective in maintaining quality of life for memory care residents. For example, the company recently introduced a music therapy program that is backed by research that shows music stimulation can activate parts of the brain that are less affected by dementia.

Another area Pegasus grew the Connections program is the introduction of virtual support groups with monthly topics on brain health to create “in-house” dementia support groups at Pegasus properties.

“It’s really connecting people across the country to have a better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and other progressive neurocognitive disorders, and I think that’s one of the things that is so difficult,” Peteresen said.

These support groups have helped families of loved ones living with dementia find compassion, understanding as Petersen said many are there “wanting hope.”

Primary to the program’s success is its commitment to personalization of memory care services and creating the right service plan to improve the quality of life for new residents, Petersen said. To provide more insight on resident activity and safeguard against falls, Pegauss implemented a fall detection ambient monitoring platform within memory care communities. The company also is piloting wearable devices that effectively create an airbag to prevent a resident from injuring themselves during a fall.

“Falls are our biggest enemy,” Peteresen said, alluding to data that shows there is an increase in the mortality rate of older adults who have undergone hip surgery.

Petersen said health care providers and senior living operators needed to work closely together to improve the diagnosis of dementia in a loved one, and educate them on the impacts of the disease. This emphasis on care coordination has helped improve operations, Pegasus leaders told MCB.

“We’re becoming better at asking the questions about each individual and including that right in their service plan, so we can relate to them more intimately and in a way that relates to them,” Petersen said.

‘The person is still there’

This push towards personalization is highly personal for Petersen, who over a decade ago experienced a stroke and learned how crucial personalized care was in her recovery.

To improve personalized memory care within Pegasus communities, Petersen said it’s crucial for clinical teams to remember that the “person is still there” and programming should identify things residents are passionate about to help reach residents and make connections “in their reality.”

“We’re not trying to reorient them to our reality, but we’re trying to reach them where they are, and I think that that’s something we’re getting better at through our service planning and asking the right questions about that person,” Petersen said.

This is all in the name of stimulating brain function of memory care residents that creates a “mind-body connection” through programming and clinical services.

High acuity care has been a narrative playing out in the last five years in senior living as older adults wait longer to seek out assisted living or memory care services which coincides with technology and home health options becoming more accessible.

Every case of dementia is “a little different” and a one-size-fits-all, standardized approach does not work in today’s memory care environment, Petersen said. A key area where senior living providers can improve is through providing educational resources for family caregivers. Pegasus has conducted webinars regarding dementia as a resource for caregivers.

Acuity shifts create new challenges

Rising acuity is putting pressure on product types including assisted living according to Pegasus CEO Chris Hollister. Residents are staying in assisted living settings longer even as they may actually need memory care services.

To ease this pressure, Hollister said operators must work closely with local physicians in their markets to help identify early interventions needed for some assisted living residents experiencing cognitive decline.

This challenge, coupled with staffing turnover, creates a training bottleneck with operators needing to constantly re-train new workers. This led Pegasus to review its training in memory care to create a “simplistic training program” to help staff learn the dynamics present in memory care settings.

This means that operators must build memory care programs that are more “holistic and inclusive,” Hollister said, expanding brain health initiatives across care settings, rather than keeping them solely in memory care.

“I think we need to get behind these initiatives and ensure we put solid science behind them. To your point about making them less infantilizing, I think that’s important,” Hollister said.

The post Inside Pegasus Senior Living’s Evidence-Based Memory Care Philosophy appeared first on Senior Housing News.