Your Residents Have a Story.
Certification Requires You Know It.
Washington's new memory care certification law (RCW 18.20.540) requires facilities to provide daily programming that reflects each resident's functional abilities, interests, habits, and preferences, as individuals. Ternwell is built to make that possible.
Request a demo before July 1, 2026.
The Regulation
What certification actually requires, in plain language.
After July 1, 2026, operating a memory care facility or unit in Washington without state certification is not permitted. Certification isn't just a license renewal; it requires demonstrable, ongoing commitment to person-centered care.
Certified facilities must provide programming that provides daily activities consistent with the functional abilities, interests, habits, and preferences of the individual residents and must make appropriate activities available based upon the resident's individual schedule and interests, including accommodating variations in mood, energy, and engagement at any hour of the day or night.
RCW 18.20.540(3)(e) — Washington State Legislature, 2025 c 187
That's not a checklist you complete at intake and file away. It's a living, staff-accessible profile of each resident as a whole person, ever-evolving and actionable every single day.
What Ternwell Captures
Every category the law addresses.
One place your team can actually use.
Ternwell is purpose-built to collect and surface the human details certification demands, not as documentation, but as tools your care staff reaches for daily.​
Functional abilities
Interests & meaningful activities
Daily habits & routines
Food & eating preferences
Mood & energy patterns
Individual schedule
Socialization preferences
Safe walking & wandering context
Outdoor interests
Environmental activity cues
Sense of home & personal space
Sleep & waking patterns
Behavioral comfort cues
Cultural, faith & family traditions
Personal history & relationships
Privacy & dignity preferences
How It Works
Voice-first. Conversational. Ready for your team from day one.
Ternwell's intake process is designed around the realities of memory care. Transitions are hard, families are stretched, turnover is high, and residents have limited opportunity to share their stories.
Ternwell makes capture easy and output actionable.
Why Now?
July 1, 2026 is a hard deadline. The preparation starts now.
Certification under RCW 18.20.540 requires more than updated policies; it requires that your team genuinely knows each resident, and that knowledge is accessible and acted on daily. For most communities, building that foundation takes time.
The facilities that will be certification-ready on July 1 are the ones that start capturing resident stories before they have to.