Memory Care in Wyoming

In the search for senior care, Wyoming should be at the top of the list for anyone seeking a quiet retirement surrounded by spectacular scenery and endless opportunities for outdoor recreation.

“Big Wyoming” is actually the least populous U.S. state, with roughly the same amount of total residents as the country’s 30th most populous city — the metro area of Wyoming’s capital and largest city, Cheyenne, has only around 86,000 people. It’s the vastness of the state’s landscape, rather, that earns Wyoming its nickname and draws millions of tourists every year. Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872 and known for both its wildlife and its size, is the country’s first national park and Wyoming’s most prominent attraction. Also in the state’s popular northwestern region are the jagged peaks of Grand Teton National Park and the valley known as Jackson Hole. Wyoming’s other natural wonders include the national monuments Devils Tower and Fossil Butte, along with several subranges of the Rockies such as the Granite Mountains, Bighorn Mountains, and Laramie Mountains.

A Place for Mom’s Senior Living Advisors can provide you with a list of communities that provide memory care in Wyoming to help you find one that fits your needs and budget.

The Wyoming Department of Health, Office of Healthcare Licensing and Surveys licenses assisted living facilities (also known as ALFs) throughout the state. Memory care is a specialized form of assisted living designed for seniors with a dementia diagnosis. Wyoming has two levels of licensing for their ALFs, depending on the type of care provided. Level 1 is for unsecured assisted living units, and Level 2 is for secured units, specialized for people with dementia care needs.

Under Wyoming’s licensing regulations, all ALFs must provide the following as a baseline to their residents:

• Meals, housekeeping, and laundry
• A safe, clean environment
• Public transportation assistance
• Assistance with medical, dental, and eye care
• Support with group activities, both in and outside of the facility
• Help with personal funds, if requested
• Personal care assistance, like help with dressing, hygiene, and skin care
• Light wound care
• Light mobility assistance
• Reminders for daily needs or activities
• 24-hour monitoring and oversight
• Nursing assessments

Residents must have full medical and physical evaluations before admission into an ALF, so that all care needs are identified. Residents with a dementia diagnosis entering a Level 2 ALF must have additional assessments to assess their specialized needs.

Facility living space requirements

ALFs licensed in Wyoming also have specific facility requirements, so residents have a safe and comfortable living space. Those requirements are as follows:

• Private rooms must be a minimum of 120 square feet.
• Shared rooms must provide 80 square feet of space per resident.
• No more than two residents can share a room.
• At least one bathroom with a toilet should be provided for every two beds.
• At least one shower or bathtub should be provided for every 10 beds.

Staffing requirements

Staffing requirements are a bit more advanced for Wyoming’s memory care ALFs. Additional training is required for staff of Level 2 ALFs that work with people with dementia. Staff providing direct care to residents of a Level 2 memory care unit must have documented training and education in the following:

• The facility’s philosophy and method to care for a person with severe cognitive impairment, like dementia
• How to care for, intervene, and redirect residents with dementia who need help with their activities of daily living
• Techniques for minimizing difficult dementia behaviors, like wandering and paranoia
• Therapeutic programs that promote the resident’s best level of independence, dignity, privacy, choice, and functioning
• How to identify and remove all physical and mental safety risks to residents from the environment

Thereafter, staff must annually complete at least 12 hours of continuing education on caring for a person with dementia. Level 2 memory care ALFs should also have a licensed nurse on staff and awake at all times. All staff must pass a criminal history background check and a Department of Family Services central registry screening before direct resident contact.

The Level 2 site manager or administrator that oversees all operations in the memory care unit has additional requirements:

• They must be over 21 years of age.
• They must pass the state’s assisted living licensure and program administration rules test with a score of 85% or higher.
• Administrators should have at least 48 semester hours or 72 quarter hours of post-secondary education in health care, elderly, health case management, facility management, or other related field from an accredited college.
• Administrators must have at least two years of experience working with elderly persons or individuals with disabilities.
• Site managers must complete at least 16 hours of continuing education annually, with eight of those hours covering how to care for a person with a severe cognitive impairment like dementia.

Management of these Level 2 ALFs must also provide their staff with orientation and education on how to properly care for residents and how to safeguard all residents’ rights. Emergency procedures should also be thoroughly covered in on-site trainings.

To learn more about a specific memory care ALF in Wyoming, contact Wyoming’s Department of Health, Division of Healthcare Licensing and Survey.

Wyoming Department of Health, Healthcare Licensing and Survey contact information

2300 Capitol Avenue, Suite 510
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Phone: 307-777-7123
Fax: 307-777-7127
wdh-ohls@wyo.gov

Violation and inspection reports for Wyoming memory care facilities

Wyoming’s Department of Health, Division of Healthcare Licensing and Survey maintains a database where you can look up the violation history of a specific facility. This is a useful tool if you’re looking for details on a potential facility for your loved one or you wish to learn more about a facility they currently live in. You can find out if a facility has had any violations in their most recent inspections, see how residents were affected by these violations, and what the facility has done to correct the problem. Use the search below to find a facility by location.

Wyoming Health Care Facility Inspection Reports

To use the search tool to find memory care facilities, choose “Assisted Living Facilities” from the Facility Type Filter drop down menu. Then choose your county from the County Filter and your city from the City Filter. A list of licensed facilities should then populate in the box. Double click on a facility to see its entire history of inspection reports. The most recent report should be at the top. Double click the page icon to read the report.