In order to care for senior loved ones with dementia, you may confront the unique challenge of juggling multiple roles, especially in the long term. Consequently, you may require assistance and more elderly dementia care options. There are various dementia care options available if you need additional assistance caring for a senior with dementia. Different patients have varying requirements, so it's essential to be knowledgeable about the types of care for dementia patients.
Caring for elderly family members with dementia is not an easy task. These elderly dementia care options can help you decide which ones can help you take care of your senior loved one.
Home health care involves the aid of professional nurses, nutritionists, and physical, occupational, or speech therapists in providing medical care and assistance to patients in their homes. Medical or caregiver dementia services such as prescription management and administration, bathing or washing, wound care, and mental health monitoring, are all part of home health care.
A home health care agency's staff can come to your home for a few or several hours to help with care needs, such as while you are at work. Knowing that staff members have been trained to help with incontinence, problematic and violent behaviors, and other issues can keep you feeling at ease.
A rotating family schedule is one of the best options for dementia care since it keeps the family together during the patient's struggle. It can also help you save money because you probably wouldn’t have to pay a hefty amount if you assign a role, like the ones in home health care and inpatient dementia care, to each family member.
You and other family members can work together to identify how much time each individual can offer, such as a full day every week, two hours in the morning, or a weekly evening program. You can also assign particular tasks, such as meals, medical appointments, dressing, and bathing.
If you don't have any family members nearby and do not want to spend on home health care, help can be available to you in the form of different in-home services. These include assistance with housekeeping and grocery shopping and employing companions who can visit to help minimize the boredom of seniors with dementia and reduce their risk of wandering off alone.
These services, which do not involve the provision of medical treatment like home health care, can help lighten your load so you can spend more quality time with your elderly loved one. It’s a great choice among other dementia care options if medical treatment is being done separately.
Most seniors with dementia have difficulty remembering how to eat. If cooking food every day doesn't match your schedule or remembering to eat regularly becomes too challenging for your older family member, you might want to explore meal service. Meal services are accessible in many communities.
Meal service agencies like Meals on Wheels can bring ready-made nutritious meals to your door, either on-demand or as part of a subscription. These meal services can help dementia patients maintain their stamina and wellbeing by providing proper nutrition and adequate hydration.
Many families prefer to keep their loved ones at home, but for some, a residential care facility is the best alternative. This could be because their elderly loved one requires 24-hour care, the care is too difficult physically or emotionally, the person's poor behaviors caused by dementia make it unsafe for one person to care for them, or Medicaid is the only means to pay for nursing home care.
People suffering from dementia can reside in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and dementia-specific facilities. Which inpatient dementia care option you choose is determined by how much care your senior family member requires, the facilities available in your community, your financial situation, and the types of care for dementia patients available in each facility.
There are many adult daycare services across several cities. These programs are similar to child daycare in that you bring your adult family member to a facility where they are fed, entertained, and cared for. Adult daycare for people with dementia differs because it's personalized to their needs, and caregivers are trained to cope with all aspects of the disease.
Even though many initiatives require financing, the government or other institutions may be able to provide assistance in the form of grants or other incentives. Adult daycare is one way to keep a senior loved one at home while also providing care and stimulation throughout the day when you are unable to be there. Families who have tried this approach typically feel at ease with the staff and appreciate their time at these establishments.
Your senior family member may benefit from palliative or hospice care when they are in the later stages of Alzheimer's disease. Among other elderly dementia care options, this one mostly focuses on reducing difficulties that come with the disease that is no longer manageable without aid.
Palliative care is a form of supportive care that focuses on comfort, whereas hospice care also focuses on comfort but also includes the decision to forego curative or curative-alternative treatment. Medicare programs will frequently offer some form of coverage for palliative care as well as hospice care.
If you are the primary person taking care of an elderly person with dementia, you may sometimes need extra help. Respite care is meant to give caregivers a break from their usual responsibilities and, in a way, to fill in the gaps when they need help. It is sometimes called "replacement care."
You can get respite care for a short time at a residential facility or by adding or expanding in-home services. Respite care can also help if you are going out of town or just need a break from taking care of your dementia-stricken loved one.
If you’re still unsure about which one of the many options for dementia care is best for your senior loved one, you can visit a healthcare provider for assessment. If you have trouble getting your family member to a healthcare provider physically, you can find doctors and nurses who make house calls.
They will come to your home to do the assessment and care while they are there. Some of these medical services may be paid for by Medicare, Medicaid, or your own health insurance. Other services may be available to you only if you pay a fee. You can look online or in the phone book to find out if any doctors or nurses are available to provide this type of service.
Caring for elderly family members with dementia is not an easy task. These elderly dementia care options can help you decide which ones will help you make the most of your time with your senior loved one.
People with dementia can get care that is person-centered or abilities-focused. The first focuses on how to treat and help each patient based on what is discovered about them, while the second looks at what a person with dementia can still do during the day and even at night.
Dementia doesn't develop overnight. In the first stage, patients still exhibit normal behavior, but this stage is progressively followed by forgetfulness and then mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe decline until the patient reaches late-stage dementia.
The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common type of dementia that affects many seniors in the United States. The less common types are Lewy Body Dementia, Vascular Dementia, and Fronto Temporal Dementia which occurs when the Frontal and Temporal Lobes of the brain deteriorate.
Identifying the specific needs of your loved ones can help you make better decisions about help and care, and getting the best care for your elderly loved ones with dementia can benefit everyone involved in the situation.
Seniors can still live a healthy and vibrant life as long as their family is there for them. That's why it's important to know what you can do to make the time you spend with your family worthwhile.
Head over to Senior Strong for more tips, ideas, and even products that can help you spend more quality time with elderly loved ones.
