Madison Hospital has been designated as North Alabama’s first Dementia Friendly Alabama hospital, a recognition highlighting its efforts to improve care for patients living with dementia and support their families.
The designation comes through the statewide Dementia Friendly Alabama initiative, which works to make communities, businesses and healthcare systems more accessible and supportive for those living with dementia and their caregivers.
Hospital leaders say the recognition reflects years of work to create a more patient-centered approach to dementia care.
“We are excited to be recognized as the region’s first dementia friendly hospital,” said Madison Hospital President Mary Lynne Wright. “Since we opened our doors, we decided we wanted to be different. We wanted to make a difference for our patients, for our visitors, for family members.”
Wright said the hospital’s “Forget Me Not” program was developed after conversations with a community member whose family had struggled with Alzheimer’s disease. The program focuses on training staff to better communicate with dementia patients and their families.
That training now reaches the majority of the hospital’s more than 700 employees and includes virtual reality simulations designed to help staff understand what it feels like to live with dementia.
“Part of that is training all of our staff in knowing how to talk to patients with dementia, how to relate to their family members,” Wright said. “We give you a special bracelet if you have dementia. We put a Forget Me Not flower on your door so all staff recognize that you have dementia and we have to communicate a little bit different.”
The hospital has also introduced hands-on tools to improve patient care. Volunteers create “fidget sleeves” to help occupy patients and prevent them from removing medical devices, while purple pillows placed in rooms signal to staff that a patient may need a different approach.
“Dementia patients tend to fidget,” Wright said. “So we have designed fidget sleeves … that give them something to help their mind stay occupied so they’re not pulling out a device like an oxygen cannula or the IV site.”
Officials say the program not only improves patient care but also provides reassurance to families navigating a difficult diagnosis.
“Dementia is a horrible, horrible disease and diagnosis,” Wright said. “The more we can do to help you be at ease, to know that we’re taking care of your family member the right way.”
According to Dementia Friendly Alabama Project Coordinator DeLane Poague, the designation makes Madison Hospital the fifth in the state to receive the recognition and the first in North Alabama.
“Madison Hospital is our fifth hospital in the state of Alabama to get this recognition … and they’re actually the first in North Alabama,” Poague said. “The staff underwent training to be better equipped to communicate, care for, and provide dementia-friendly spaces for those patients … but also those caregivers too.”
Poague noted the growing need for such programs, with more than 100,000 Alabamians currently living with dementia.
Hospital leaders say community support has played a major role in building the program, from volunteers who create patient tools to organizations that helped fund training technology.
“We couldn’t do it without our community,” Wright said. “It’s just amazing to watch this community come together to make a difference for our patients.”
The designation signals a broader effort to expand dementia-friendly practices across North Alabama, ensuring patients and families have access to more supportive care environments as the need continues to grow.
