Memory Care in Colorado Springs When the State Doesn't Keep a List

Why there is no official list

In some states the licensing agency marks which assisted living buildings have a locked dementia unit, and a family can filter for it. Colorado does not. Its rules for memory care are detailed, but they live inside the assisted living regulation as Part 25, Secure Environment, and CDPHE's public facility list has no field that says whether a residence operates one.

That leaves families with marketing language, which is not a license category. A residence can describe itself as offering memory care with nothing more than reminders and a door chime. The legal line is whether the residence restricts a resident's free exit. If it does, Part 25 applies in full, and the residence owes you a written disclosure before move-in.

Where to start looking

Larger residences are the most likely to run a separate secure neighborhood, because they have the space and staff to divide the building. Of the 69 senior assisted living residences in El Paso and Teller counties, 29 are licensed for 60 or more beds. They are a reasonable first call list, not a confirmed one.

Source: CDPHE Health Facilities data updated September 29, 2026 and Find and Compare records retrieved November 6, 2026.

Some smaller residences are secured throughout. A few also register dementia-related names with CDPHE: Hemsley House Assisted Living & Memory Care at University Park, Springs Ranch Memory Care Community. A name is a hint, not proof.

What the Part 25 disclosure must tell you

Since March 17, 2025, Part 25.4 has required a residence with a secure environment to tell families, before move-in, its admission criteria and the assessments it uses, where the secure area is and how exit is restricted, how safety is monitored inside and outdoors, and what specialty services and daily engagement it offers.

Ask for that document by email before you tour. Read two or three side by side. One will describe a daily rhythm of activity, meals in small groups and staff who know each resident's history; another will describe a keypad. The difference is usually obvious on paper.

Staffing and training to ask about

Part 25 sets a floor, not a ratio: at least one trained, awake staff member on duty in the secure environment at all times, and at least six hours of dementia training for each staff member within 60 days of hire. Ask how many people are inside the unit at 2 a.m., who covers when one of them leaves to help elsewhere, and how many of the current staff have finished the training.

Then read the residence's CDPHE inspection and occurrence history on its facility page. Missing-person occurrence reports from a building with a secure unit deserve a direct question about what happened and what changed.

Questions to bring to every memory care tour

Ask how many residents live in the secure area today and how many it is designed for, how residents are assessed before admission, and what behavior would lead the residence to ask someone to move. Ask how the residence handles a resident who becomes agitated in the late afternoon, which is common, and whether it uses medication to manage behavior or tries other approaches first; Part 25 training must cover non-drug techniques.

Walk the outdoor area. Part 25 requires a year-round secured outdoor space that residents can use on their own, with a barrier at least six feet high. In Colorado Springs that means asking whether the courtyard is cleared of snow and shaded in summer, and whether the door to it is actually open during the day.