A look inside new 8,000 square-foot Alzheimer’s Alliance of Smith County building

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - With expanded space comes expanded opportunities, and the Alzheimer’s Alliance of Smith County is just weeks away from opening its new space to families in East Texas.

“It’s a state-of-the-art facility with great technology, great security, and just a very thoughtful layout for those who are living with dementia,” said Executive Director for the Alzheimer’s Alliance of Smith County, Stephanie Taylor.

Every little detail was in mind during their design phase, from colors on the wall, to built-in carpets which prevent tripping and falling.

“One of the things we did was work with our architect team to really research different colors and what reactions and emotions they may elicit in someone who’s living with a degenerative brain disease. Even the smallest things are really important to us,” Taylor said.

Their color scheme is centered around green, navy, and teal.

“The colors, being able to maintain independence and come here on their own for services that’re provided, and having a great, accessible space,” Taylor said. “We have colors that lead them into different rooms and act as guides throughout the building.”

In the 8,000-square-foot building they now have space for a full conference room with technology to go along with it, as well as a caregiver library, which they haven’t had before.

“Our social worker, our counselor, our community health worker, client services, they give out lots of books as resources,” she said. “Books, journals, strategies, communication tips. So in this building we actually get to have a library to house all of those resources.”

Previously the Alliance leased three different building spaces. One for counseling, case management, and client services, one for their partnership with UT Tyler, and their Day Club. Taylor says that’s one of her favorite spaces in this building.

“I would say our Day Club room is pretty awesome. It’s just a nice big room, it’s full of color, it just when you walk in, it makes you smile. We’re really proud of that space,” Taylor said. “We’re also able, not only to have our day respite program there, but we’re also able to have our educational workshops and support groups. Things that we had to look elsewhere in our community to find space for.”

Funding for this space was made possible by donations to their $2 million capital campaign.

“We’re a local and independent non-profit; all of the funds that we raise stay right here to support programs like this,” Taylor said. “So we’ve had some amazing donors help us get to this point. We’re still about $50,000 away from our goal ($2 million), which is not much as it relates to our overall project.”

Taylor said they are hoping to get final inspections this week, move in next week, and be open to the public in about two weeks.

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