Renata Worthy, Wellspring Village Director at Brightview Wayne, can sum up her approach to memory care in one word: passion.
“I truly love what I do,” she said. “I look at each person walking through my door and think if I was looking for a place for my mom, what would I want to feel and experience?”
For Renata, that thought boils down to creating a customized, person-centered experience for each resident. “The more I know, the better care I can provide,” she said. “Everything is so customized that each resident gets the service they need and deserve.”
Renata’s been working in senior care for over a decade. She first started working in the home care industry before working in dementia care. After growing in that business, Renata landed a job running a dementia care community, where she discovered her true passion.
Renata also began working for Brightview Randolph’s Health and Wellness team on a part-time basis. “I loved the culture and leadership team working there,” she said. “I loved how they operated and treated associates. Even working part-time, they treated me like gold, so I kept my eyes open for other opportunities there.”
Brightview Wayne was being built, and soon, Renata saw a job posting for their Wellspring Village Director position and jumped at the chance to apply. “The opportunity to build a team was so appealing,” she said. “I could hand-select the type of people I wanted to work in Wellspring Village™. I put lots of time into that effort.”
Opening the community has taken a lot of dedication but is ultimately very rewarding. Renata describes opening Brightview Wayne like opening a new business – you have to put in a lot of hours to make sure everything is running smoothly. “You are building the foundation for the community,” she said. “It is something to go in the books – how many times do you get to open a building?”
Brightview Wayne opened in September 2021, and Renata’s team is already gaining recognition for its relationships with residents and families.
“They hear from me a lot,” Renata said. “Families can only come to see their loved ones a certain amount of time, so I keep them in the loop and connected with what goes on day to day in Wellspring. I want them to trust us and feel good about leaving their parent here.”
One of Renata’s favorite features of Brightview Wayne’s Wellspring Village™ is that it doesn’t feel like a forgotten place. “It’s part of the community like the rest of the building,” she said. “Residents here have the same number of choices as everyone else, and they deserve to have those same options.”
Brightview Wayne’s Wellspring Village™ also has a few extra features. They have an art room and their own tavern where happy hour is hosted every day (and yes, alcohol is served to those who are medically permitted to have it!). “The whole layout is beautiful,” Renata said. “There is a lot of natural sunlight for residents, and they have lots of options about what they want to do. There’s always music playing and lots of laughter.”
According to Renata, one misconception many have about people living with dementia is that they can’t have the same type of life as everyone else. “People think residents can’t have as much fun and laughter every day,” she said. “There is nothing we can’t try and attempt to do. We try not to say no to anything – we want residents to have the options to do it all.”
Schedule your personal visit to Brightview Wayne’s memory care community
Brightview Senior Living builds, owns, and operates award-winning vibrant senior living communities in eight states along the East Coast: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. We offer senior Independent Living, Assisted Living, Enhanced Care, and Wellspring Village™, a specialized neighborhood for people living with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Schedule a personal visit to experience our communities firsthand.
