Have your parents been diagnosed with dementia? It may be time to have a conversation about senior home care. Looking after your parents on your own is a big job, and professional caregivers can help in many ways.
Here’s how professional caregivers can help dementia patients at home.
Provide Companionship
Loneliness is a big problem for people with dementia. In fact, 38 percent of dementia patients report feeling lonely. People with dementia may not feel confident talking to others and may pull away from friends and family. If they worry about stigmas, they may not want to talk about their diagnosis. They may not be able to partake in their favourite activities anymore, which makes the loneliness worse.
Professional caregivers can provide
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They may not be able to stay focused on one chore until it’s completed or they may not remember how to perform certain chores. Professional caregivers can help your loved ones with these household chores.
The caregiver will determine which chores your loved one is still able to do. For example, the caregiver may need to handle more complicated chores like washing the dishes or washing clothes. Your loved ones may be able to help with shorter, easier chores like folding clothes or sweeping the floor.
Help with Personal Care Tasks
Personal care tasks can be difficult for people with dementia, even in the earlier stages of the condition. For example, people with early-stage dementia could forget to take a bath or put on clean clothes. They need reminders to perform these tasks every day. In the later stages, dementia patients could forget what baths are for or forget how to get dressed.
No matter what stage of dementia your parents are in, professional caregivers can help. This could include simply reminding your parents it’s time to take a bath or brush their teeth. Later, it could include assisting them in the bath or brushing their teeth for them.
Monitor Dementia
Sometimes, the caregiver won’t allow quality sleep. Over 66 percent of home caregivers suffer from some form of psychological or physical illness. The most common illness that results from giving care to Alzheimer’s disease is depression. The caregiver needs to monitor their emotional well-being as well as the well-being of the person that they are giving care to. Usually, giving care to those with dementia is actually more stressful than giving care to those with cancer.
People who suffer from Dementia lose their ability to do a daily task. They are unable to do shopping, prepare meals, deal with bills and money. They can forget to lock the door, turn off the cooker or water. They may have difficulties with their mobility and coordination. Person who has a disability experiences this same problem.
Dementia is the loss of a person’s mental skills from their daily routines. The symptoms of dementia could easily be over looked, they include forgetting things, daily routines are hard to complete, misplacing things, depression, aggravation and aggression, emotion are high, even feeling like someone is a threat to their life (Web MD,2012). Caring for someone with dementia can be difficult if with resources like healthcare, living facilities, nursing homes and medicine is involved, but sometimes healthcare and facilities do not provide the proper care. This disease is very common in the elderly community past the age of sixty-five. Finding out that a loved
70% of the patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia live at home. Patients who are living at home typically receive help from their family members and friends; they also get community–based services, homemaker services, and adult day care centers. Many people with dementia end up in long-term care facility or a nursing home because they need 24-hour care and hand-on assistance with even the simplest of tasks. These patients struggle with eating, bathing, dressing, and using the restroom, which can be very difficult if the assistant has not had training. It would be very difficult to treat patients with high-grade dementia in the regular
Dementia is common among a large population of elderly people. The disease affects not only the individual diagnosed, but also the caregivers that work towards making their life comfortable in the end. Understanding and learning about the disease is crucial in helping those that experience or live with someone who has dementia. The services and support that are currently in affect for elderly people with dementia and the caregivers is poor, and ineffective because of the lack of research and information on the topic.
People with dementia may have problems with short-term memory, keeping track of their belongings, keeping up with plans, remembering appointments or travel dates. Many dementias are progressive. This means that symptoms start out slowly and gradually get worse with time. Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia are diagnosed based on careful medical history, a physical examination, laboratory tests, and the characteristic changes in thinking, day-to-day function and behavior related to each
Nerney, C. (2014, April). Dementia. Lecture conducted from Massachusetts’s College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA.
The word dementia is often used as an umbrella term to describe a wide range of symptoms. Dementia is commonly used to describe those with a decline in mental abilities that potentially interferes with their everyday life. This is common in older adults and may develop gradually or even appear suddenly. It is also important to note that, “dementia is more prevalent in older adults with the rate doubling about every 5 years after the age of 75 (Erber,2005; Papalia et al.,1996)” (Davis, Gfeller, & Thaut, 2008). Dementia not only affects the person who is diagnosed with it but also family and friends. Those who have dementia may have a hard time communicating effectively and that can add stress to those close to them. With regards to that, music therapy can be a great way to maintain mental abilities of those with dementia and help families communicate better with their loved one.
Dementia is classified in three stages. In each stage there are various things caregivers and family members can do to improve the life of their demented loved one. Throughout all three stages of dementia it is important for family members to keep in touch with their loved one. This will make the demented patient feel a sense of belonging and importance. Patients may also benefit from stories, pictures, trinkets, and documents that remind them of the
Ferri et al. (2006), 4.6 million people throughout the world are diagnosed with dementia every year, and the number of people in Europe suffering from dementia will increase to 13 million in 2040; and Wimo et al. (2003) estimates that approximately 63 million worldwide will suffer from this illness by 2030. This has crucial implications since it is an illness that is often associated with long-term care (LTC) in its later stages. However, while long-term care is an important consideration, the quality of life and how people with dementia cope with the illness are also of much concern but unfortunately less dealt into. Dementia can undermine a person’s self-worth and esteem, and affects most aspects of daily living (Preston, Marshall, & Bucks, 2007) affecting one’s quality of life (QOF).
individuals who are left being cared for by a caregiver such as family or friends because
Imagine waking up and not knowing what is going on in the world. That is how people who suffer from dementia live every day of their lives. They forget their basic cognitive skills and functions. According to Joseph Quinn (2013), those diagnosed with dementia have trouble with attentiveness, language, and memory recall. (Quinn, 2013). For example, just speaking to a family member is hard for dementia patients, because they forget how to form
In the nursing profession, one of the primary responsibilities over a nurse is to provide care. A caregiver is “a person who provides direct care (as for children, elderly people, or the chro...
Caring for dementia involves a lot of patience and understanding. It should be dealt with audacity and flawlessness to ensure the vulnerable adults’ well-being. Aiding at home or care home required carers to be at their best, physically and emotionally. The responsibility can be distressing but it is rewarding as well since helping dementia adults in their day to day activities is a significant matter for them. However, carers need a pause as over duty can result to substandard nursing. The big question is: who take care for the carers of people with dementia?
Ferri et al. (2006), 4.6 million people throughout the world are diagnosed with dementia every year, and the number of people in Europe suffering from dementia will increase to 13 million in 2040; and Wimo et al. (2003) estimates that approximately 63 million worldwide will suffer from this illness by 2030. This has crucial implications since it is an illness that is associated with long-term care (LTC). However, while LTC is an important consideration, the quality of life and how people with dementia cope with the illness are also of much concern, but less dealt into. Dementia can undermine a person’s self-worth and esteem, and affects most aspects of daily living (Preston, Marshall, & Bucks, 2007) affecting one’s quality of life (QOL).