The winner of the 2007 Douglas Cup for the best team at the Douglas Institute, the Moe Levin Centre is located in the CPC Pavilion, where it provides specialized care to patients suffering from cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. At the Centre, a fundamentally human approach guides both care for patients and relations with families. “We not only get family members involved as much as possible in treatment activities but also provide them with training to improve their knowledge of the disease, which helps them better care for their loved ones,” said Dolly Dastoor, PhD, Clinical-Administrative Chief, Program for Dementia with Psychiatric Comorbidity (PDPC).

Moe Levin has three different departments—an Inpatient Unit, a Day Centre that receives patients for different therapeutic activities, and a Memory Clinic that works with people on an appointment basis to assess their cognitive functions.



A day at the Moe Levin Centre
8:45 a.m.: At the Inpatient Unit, patients get ready for breakfast, which they are not all required to eat at the same time. In fact, patients are not forced to change their habits, as it is very important that they feel at home and are able to stick to their normal schedules. Staff members therefore organize activities from everyday routines, such as cooking workshops or, when it’s warm enough, barbecues in the Iannicelli Garden.

9:15 a.m.: It’s the Therapeutic Day Centre’s turn to receive patients for the day. The Douglas bus picks up sector patients at home each morning and then brings them back in the middle of the afternoon. For many of them, this weekly visit to the Moe Levin Centre represents their only outing of the week.

The recreational therapist, occupational therapist, and rehabilitation assistant at the Day Centre supervise patient activities that include music therapy and cognitive remediation. Here, a personalized approach based on small groups and human relationships is also essential. Recreational therapist Lisa O’Reilly describes a patient who said, “I like coming to visit you at your place, Lisa, together with my friends.”

“For this woman,” Lisa explained, “coming to the Centre with other patients was like spending time with good company while talking and having a nice time in my living room! I never told her that she wasn’t coming to my home, because her perception showed how comfortable she was at the Day Centre.”

1:00 p.m.: Ms. Brown* and her family arrive at the Memory Clinic for their appointment with N.P. Vasavan Nair, MD. Patients’ families are invited to accompany them throughout the clinical process so that they can all receive information and ask for any support they need.

Patients get appointments at the Memory Clinic and undergo exams that measure their cognitive functions. They are also referred to any necessary resources. Most patients at the Moe Levin Day Centre are referred by the Memory Clinic; this makes follow-up easier for clinic staff, who can make quicker adjustments to a patient’s medication.

In keeping with best practices, the Memory Clinic recently became equipped with a cognitive remediation laboratory funded by the Douglas Institute Foundation. The lab can receive up to eight patients at a time. This stimulation program includes relaxation sessions, memorization techniques and computer-aided stimulation.

A team they never forget
Whether they come to the Inpatient Unit, the Memory Clinic or the Day Centre, all patients receive the same exceptional quality of service. Team work is very important at the Moe Levin Centre, and each employee supports the whole team towards a common goal of patient well-being. Around thirty employees of the Centre share the same philosophy: treat each person with respect and dignity.

“I am very proud to say that everyone here shares the same team spirit and that all employees support each other no matter what their job description says,” explains Dolly Dastoor, about the sense of solidarity that permeates the Moe Levin Centre. This is important, as patients and families often experience fear when they arrive for the first time; however, they end up feeling so good they never want to leave.