Resources · Fort Carson, CO

Dementia care at home for Fort Carson families: Fountain and the springs

An address in the Fort Carson area is really three addresses: the developed part of the post, its own census area of 17,693 people at 5,840 feet; Fountain, the city of 29,802 directly east at 5,558 feet; or Security-Widefield, 38,639 people north of town along Fontaine Boulevard. The Army's footprint crosses four counties (El Paso, Pueblo, Fremont and Huerfano), so dementia care here starts by knowing which map the family actually lives on. Every senior resource they will use is off post.

The Colorado Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association counts nearly 91,000 Coloradans living with Alzheimer's, helped by 178,000 caregivers providing 309 million hours of unpaid care. In a household on orders, those unpaid hours stack on top of duty schedules and the next set of plans; the spouse doing the caring is often expected to stay ready for both.

Colorado CareAssist is a family-owned, non-medical home care agency, and this is the south band on our pricing map: $40 per hour with a three-hour minimum per visit, live-in care at a flat $650 a day, and no long-term contract to sign. The opening step is a free 20-minute conversation at (303) 757-1777.

Where an afternoon can happen: Fountain Valley Senior Center

There is no senior center on the post. The Army's own recreation listings cover aquatics, fitness, outdoor gear rentals, a shooting complex, golf and an on-post library, and stop there. The older-adult hub for this community is the Fountain Valley Senior Center, 5745 Southmoor Drive in Fountain: transportation, meals, events and activities for El Paso County seniors, reached at 719-600-2644 or [email protected].

The same building also holds the town's ride system, because the City of Fountain contracts that center to run ADA paratransit; that desk is 719-600-2643. For a family absorbing a dementia diagnosis, the pairing matters: the first place the parent becomes a regular is also the place that can put them in a van.

The on-post habits worth keeping

The commissary at 1551 Prussman Blvd (719-407-8315) opens 8 to 6 on Sunday, 8:30 to 8 on weekdays, 8 to 8 on Saturday; CLICK2GO pickup runs Sunday 10 to 5 and Monday through Saturday 9 to 7, and delivery is offered every day of the week. The Main Exchange at Bldg 6110 Martinez Street (719-576-4000) keeps 9 to 8 six days. Off post, King Soopers Hancock Plaza at 2910 S Academy Blvd (719-393-9622, pharmacy 719-393-9688) and the Safeway at 6520 S Academy Blvd (719-527-0146) both run 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Keep whichever store the person already knows. Recognition is capacity: a familiar aisle steadies someone who cannot name the day, and a shopping plan that switches stores to save a few dollars often costs more in agitation than it saves in miles.

Routines with a town behind them

Fountain hands the week landmarks to lean on: the Metcalfe Park market every Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., May 30 through Sept 26; movie nights at the same park; then Thunder in the Valley (July 11-12), Trunk-or-Treat (October 23), the Tree Lighting (November 20) and Miracle on Main Street (December 12). The Fountain Library at 230 South Main St. stays open until 7 on weekdays, free and lit and full of people who will not stare.

On the Security-Widefield side, the Sand Creek branch at 1821 South Academy Blvd. runs nearly the same clock (9 to 7 Monday through Thursday, 10 to 6 Friday and Saturday), one of 14 Pikes Peak Library District locations across El Paso, Teller and Park counties. Same building, same hour, every week is the exercise plan the diagnosis cannot cancel.

The medical doors, and when to move fast

For enrolled families the medical system runs through Evans Army Community Hospital at 1650 Cochrane Circle (719-526-7000; the patient advocate answers at 719-526-7225). The civilian emergency door most of these households actually drive to is UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central, 1400 E. Boulder Street in Colorado Springs (719.365.5000). Write both on one card, in type big enough to read at 2 a.m.

Everything else, the 4 p.m. restlessness, the refused bath, the third telling of the same story, is non-medical territory, and that is exactly where our dementia-trained caregivers work. A fall that strikes the head, sudden confusion, choking: those go straight to one of the two doors above, no debate, no phone call to us first.

Food, benefits and the county's desks

When the kitchen and the paperwork both start slipping, Silver Key delivers Meals on Wheels to anyone 60 or older in its service area with no income test: $9.75 a meal paying privately, or a suggested $3.50 donation for income-qualified seniors, at 719-884-2300. The delivery doubles as a daily knock someone either answers or does not. Silver Key's pages say Pikes Peak region without naming towns, so confirm the specific address by ZIP.

Money and benefits questions route to the El Paso County DHS desk at 350 Lyckman Dr, housed inside the Peak Vista Community Health Center (719-636-0000, weekdays 7:30 to noon and 1 to 4:30), the EBT office closest to the post. The Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging (719-471-2096) is the free options door, and El Paso County Veterans Services (719-520-7750) files disability and survivor claims at no charge when there is a veteran in the house.

Talking so the afternoon lands

Lead with the name, then the request. One idea per sentence, spoken at eye level instead of from the doorway. Offer two choices, never an open one. When the telling stops matching the calendar, step inside their version rather than arguing at it from outside; nobody has ever won that argument, and both people lose the hour anyway.

The question you already answered five times is genuinely new to them the sixth time. Tape the answer where they sit, in handwriting they recognize. For evenings when nobody in the house can hold it: the Alzheimer's Association helpline (800.272.3900) answers at any hour, and the Pikes Peak 211 line (dial 2-1-1, or 719.955.0742, or text a ZIP to 898-211) carries the local referrals.

A mile up, and what the weather does

Everyone here lives about a mile above sea level, and the valley behaves like it. Colorado Springs averages 32.5 inches of snow across a winter, with March heaviest at 5.7 inches, and July daily highs near 86.5. Wildfire smoke is the summer variable: CDPHE's season runs May through September and names older adults among the groups most sensitive to it.

CDPHE's clean-room recipe costs nearly nothing: pick one room, keep its windows and doors shut, run the furnace fan continuously on recirculate with the best filter that fits (MERV 13 or better works best) or a portable HEPA unit, and skip the candles and the frying until the air clears. One thing a person with dementia will never report is that the air hurts them; they simply become harder to read in August. It may be the filter, not the disease.

When the household needs more hands

The calls arrive at the arithmetic break: a parent living in the house while a spouse's unit deploys, a relocation order nobody can execute with a dementia patient in the back seat, the one evening nobody can be home for. Buying consistent outside hours at that moment keeps the person home, which is almost always the goal, and keeps the rest of the military schedule working.

Visits in this band price at $40 an hour, booked three at a time, long enough for the bath, the food, the medication reminders and the loop around the block; live-in care is the flat $650 per day, dinner to breakfast, for the stretch when nights decide everything. Caregivers are matched on skills and personality and dementia-trained, and no long-term contract is asked for, because orders can redraw a family calendar in one phone call. Start with the free 20-minute talk at (303) 757-1777, then a free assessment at the kitchen table or by video; Colorado CareAssist is also a VA Community Care Network provider when the veteran's own care belongs to the VA rather than TRICARE.

Local resources in Fort Carson

The Alzheimer's Association Helpline is 800.272.3900; the Colorado Chapter reports nearly 91,000 Coloradans living with Alzheimer's and 178,000 caregivers providing 309 million hours of unpaid care. Source
The Fountain Valley Senior Center is at 5745 Southmoor Drive, Fountain (719-600-2644, [email protected]), supporting seniors in El Paso County with transportation, meals, events and activities; the City of Fountain contracts it for ADA paratransit at 719-600-2643. Source
The Fort Carson Commissary is at 1551 Prussman Blvd, Bldg. 1800 ((719) 407-8315), with CLICK2GO pickup and delivery at (719) 407-8321; the Main Exchange is Bldg 6110 Martinez Street (719-576-4000). Source
Evans Army Community Hospital is at 1650 Cochrane Circle, Fort Carson, CO 80913, main phone 719-526-7000, patient advocate 719-526-7225. Source
The Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging serves El Paso, Park and Teller counties at 14 South Chestnut, Colorado Springs ((719) 471-2096, weekdays 9-4), with no fees and no one turned away for inability to pay. Source
El Paso County Veterans Services is at 5850 Championship View, Suite 130, Colorado Springs, (719) 520-7750, free claims assistance through accredited officers; the PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom VA Clinic is at 3141 Centennial Boulevard, Colorado Springs. Source
Silver Key's Meals on Wheels serves seniors 60+ in its service area with no income requirement: $9.75/meal private pay or a $3.50 suggested donation for income-qualified clients; 719-884-2300; Reserve & Ride transportation books a week ahead at the same number. Source
Safeway at 6520 S Academy Blvd ((719) 527-0146, 6 a.m.-11 p.m.) offers DriveUp & Go, delivery and SNAP EBT online; King Soopers Hancock Plaza at 2910 S Academy Blvd (719-393-9622, pharmacy 719-393-9688) offers pickup and delivery. Source
The City of Fountain's Metcalfe Park hosts the Saturday farmers market (8 a.m.-2 p.m., May 30-Sept 26 season) and City Hall is at 116 South Main St.; the Fountain Library is at 230 South Main St., weekdays to 7 p.m. Source
El Paso County DHS's Fountain office (EBT site inside Peak Vista Community Health Center) is at 350 Lyckman Dr, (719) 636-0000, weekdays 7:30-12 and 1-4:30; UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central is at 1400 E. Boulder Street, Colorado Springs, 719.365.5000. Source
211 for the Pikes Peak region: dial 2-1-1 or 719.955.0742, text a ZIP code to 898-211; Fort Carson's elevation is 5,840 ft with a 2020 CDP population of 17,693; Fountain sits directly east of the post at 5,558 ft (29,802 residents in 2020). Source

Families in Fort Carson can start with a free in-home assessment, or read about home care in Fort Carson.