22 of St. Charles County's 44 DHSS-licensed care facilities disclose an Alzheimer's special care unit. Where they are, which license fits dementia, and what to check before you sign.
By STL Senior Advisor Care Team · October 24, 2026
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Listen to this guide as a 5-minute podcast episode, or read on. Hosts Marcus and Dana are AI-generated voices.
Marcus: Welcome to the STL Senior Advisor podcast. I'm Marcus.
Dana: And I'm Dana. Today we're crossing the Missouri River into St. Charles County, to talk about memory care.
Marcus: This one comes up a lot. Mom's memory is slipping, she lives near O'Fallon or St. Peters, and someone in the family types "memory care near me" and gets a wall of names.
Dana: Right. And every one of them says memory care on the sign. The license behind the sign is what actually matters.
Marcus: So let's start simple. How many memory care communities are there in St. Charles County?
Dana: Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services lists 22 licensed facilities in the county that disclose an Alzheimer's special care unit. Together they have 726 special care unit beds.
Marcus: Out of how many licensed places total?
Dana: Forty-four. So about half of the county's long-term care licenses have a dementia unit of some kind.
Marcus: Are those all memory care buildings?
Dana: Most aren't. Nineteen are assisted living facilities, and three are nursing homes with a dementia unit inside a bigger building. Usually memory care is a secured wing of a larger assisted living community.
Marcus: Are there any that do only memory care?
Dana: Three. Barathaven Memory Care in Dardenne Prairie, with 66 beds. NHC Place, St. Peters Memory Care, with 60. And Cedarhurst of Wentzville, with 80.
Marcus: And Missouri doesn't have a memory care license?
Dana: No. A community that markets memory care is an assisted living facility or a nursing home that has told the state it runs a special care unit or program.
Marcus: Where is memory care in O'Fallon, St. Charles, St. Peters and Dardenne Prairie?
Dana: It clusters along I-70 and Highway 364. St. Peters has the most, six licenses and 178 unit beds. O'Fallon has four licenses and 142 beds. The city of St. Charles has four and 135. Wentzville has four and 125.
Marcus: And Dardenne Prairie?
Dana: Only two licenses, but one is that 66-bed building that does nothing but memory care. So it has more dementia beds than you'd expect for its size.
Marcus: Anything special about O'Fallon?
Dana: Two of its four are nursing homes, Garden View Care Center and Delmar Gardens of O'Fallon. That matters if your parent also needs skilled nursing.
Marcus: Okay, the big one. What's the difference between an Option 1 and an Option 2 assisted living license?
Dana: Missouri describes Option 1 as 24-hour care, with help with medications and personal care, in a home-like setting. Option 2 is similar, but it may accept or keep residents with a cognitive or physical impairment who need extra help evacuating in an emergency.
Marcus: So the fire alarm test.
Dana: Exactly. If your parent wouldn't get out of the building on their own when an alarm sounds, you're generally looking at Option 2.
Marcus: How common is Option 2 in St. Charles County?
Dana: Very. Twenty-four of the county's 26 assisted living licenses are Option 2, and every assisted living memory care unit in the county sits under one. The two Option 1 licenses don't disclose a special care unit at all.
Marcus: And when is it a nursing home instead?
Dana: When your parent needs skilled nursing on top of dementia care. Three of the county's 15 nursing homes have a special care unit.
Marcus: What should a memory care community in St. Charles County hand you before you sign?
Dana: A disclosure form. Every Missouri facility that provides specialized Alzheimer's or dementia care files an Alzheimer's Special Care Services Disclosure with the state when it's licensed and renewed.
Marcus: What's on it?
Dana: Nine areas. The unit's philosophy, how residents are placed, transferred and discharged, assessment and care planning, staff training, the building itself, activities, family involvement, costs and fees, and safety and security. They also have to give you the state's guide to choosing a special care unit, or their own version.
Marcus: Why does the discharge part matter so much?
Dana: Because it tells you when they'd ask your parent to move. And the costs section is the closest thing you'll get to a price list. No state agency publishes a memory care price for St. Charles County.
Marcus: How do you check a community's inspections, and is there help paying?
Dana: Look the community up on the state's Show Me Long Term Care site, which lists licensure inspections and complaint investigations. Our facility pages repeat the license number, the unit size and the recent inspection dates.
Marcus: And Medicaid?
Dana: The state's site lists none of the county's assisted living licenses as Medicaid-certified, but 13 of its 15 nursing homes are. If your parent stays home a while longer, Missouri's Aged and Disabled Waiver serves people 63 and older who would otherwise need nursing home care, with homemaker, chore, respite, home-delivered meals and adult day care.
Marcus: The full guide, with the city-by-city table and links to every facility page, is in the description.
Dana: And if you'd like help comparing buildings, an STL Senior Advisor is free. See you next time.
St. Charles County has 22 licensed facilities that disclose an Alzheimer's special care unit to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), with 726 special care unit beds between them. That is half of the 44 long-term care licenses DHSS lists for the county, based on the state's LTC directory as published on data.mo.gov and retrieved October 23, 2026.
Nineteen of the 22 are assisted living facilities licensed as Option 2, and three are skilled nursing facilities with a dementia unit inside a larger building. Most memory care here is a secured wing of a larger assisted living community. Three licenses are memory care for the whole building: Barathaven Memory Care in Dardenne Prairie (66 beds), NHC Place, St. Peters Memory Care (60 beds) and Cedarhurst of Wentzville (80 beds).
Missouri does not issue a separate memory care license. A community that markets memory care is an assisted living facility or nursing home that has told DHSS it runs a special care unit or program. Our Missouri memory care licensing guide explains the license tiers in more detail.
Memory care in St. Charles County clusters along the I-70 and Highway 364 corridors. St. Peters has the most special care unit beds, followed by O'Fallon and the city of St. Charles. The counts below come from the DHSS directory and count each license once.
| City (St. Charles County) | Licenses with an Alzheimer's special care unit | Special care unit beds | License types |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Peters | 6 | 178 | 5 ALF Option 2, 1 nursing home |
| O'Fallon | 4 | 142 | 2 ALF Option 2, 2 nursing homes |
| St. Charles | 4 | 135 | 4 ALF Option 2 |
| Wentzville | 4 | 125 | 4 ALF Option 2 |
| Dardenne Prairie | 2 | 76 | 2 ALF Option 2 |
| Weldon Spring | 1 | 58 | 1 ALF Option 2 |
| Cottleville | 1 | 12 | 1 ALF Option 2 |
| County total | 22 | 726 | 19 ALF Option 2, 3 nursing homes |
Two things stand out. Dardenne Prairie has only two licenses, but one of them is a 66-bed building that does nothing but memory care, so the town has more dementia beds than its size suggests. O'Fallon's count includes two nursing homes, Garden View Care Center (37 unit beds) and Delmar Gardens of O'Fallon (30 unit beds), which matters if your parent also needs skilled nursing. You can browse each city's options on our St. Charles memory care and O'Fallon memory care pages, or the full memory care directory.
For most people with dementia who can still walk and live in a community setting, the license to look for is Assisted Living Facility Option 2. DHSS describes Option 1 as 24-hour care, including help with medications and personal care, in a home-like setting. Option 2 offers similar care but may accept or keep residents with a cognitive or physical impairment who need extra help evacuating in an emergency.
That evacuation rule is the practical difference. A parent who would not leave the building on their own when an alarm sounds generally needs an Option 2 license. In St. Charles County, 24 of the 26 assisted living licenses are Option 2, and every assisted living memory care unit in the county sits under an Option 2 license. The two Option 1 licenses, Lake St Charles Assisted Living Apartments and Garden Villas of O'Fallon, disclose no special care unit.
A nursing home is the step for someone who needs skilled nursing on top of dementia care. Three of the county's 15 nursing homes run a special care unit. Nursing homes also differ on payment: DHSS's Show Me Long Term Care site lists 13 of the 15 as Medicaid-certified, while none of the county's assisted living licenses are listed that way.
Every Missouri facility that provides specialized Alzheimer's or dementia care must file Form MO 580-2637, the Alzheimer's Special Care Services Disclosure, with DHSS at licensure and renewal, under 19 CSR 30-82.010. The form must show how care in the unit differs from the rest of the building.
It covers nine areas, including the unit's written philosophy, how residents are placed, transferred and discharged, assessment and care planning, staff training, the physical environment, activities, family involvement, costs and fees, and safety and security. The facility must also provide DHSS's Guide to Selecting an Alzheimer's Special Care Unit or its own equivalent.
Ask for both documents on your first tour, before any deposit. The discharge section tells you when the community would ask your parent to move, and the costs section is the closest thing to a price list. No state agency publishes a St. Charles County memory care price, so the written fee schedule is the number to compare. Our St. Charles County senior care cost guide covers the wider budget.
Look up any community on DHSS's Show Me Long Term Care site, which lists state licensure inspections and complaint investigations. Each of our facility pages repeats the license number, capacity, special care unit beds and recent inspection dates from that record.
If your parent wants to stay at home a while longer, Missouri's Aged and Disabled Waiver serves people 63 or older who would otherwise need nursing home care. It covers homemaker, chore, respite, home-delivered meals and adult day care, and is run by the DHSS Division of Senior and Disability Services. The Alzheimer's Association helpline, 1-800-272-3900, is listed by DHSS for dementia questions.
When you are ready to compare buildings, a St. Charles County advisor can match your parent's needs to Option 2 communities with open special care unit beds, at no cost to your family. Last verified: October 2026.
Free and online, no pressure. We work for families, not facilities.
Or call (314) 370-2387
STL Senior Advisor