When an older family member is diagnosed with dementia, there is a lot of planning involved in ensuring they receive the best care and continue to live a good quality of life. Because many older adults want to remain at home, finding ways to accomplish that can be one of the challenges families face.
One of the ways you can ensure your aging relative with dementia is able to stay in their home for as long as possible is by contacting an elder care agency to schedule professional elder care providers to come to the senior’s home. There are many things elder care can do for older adults with dementia.
The 4 things listed below are just a few of them.
#1: Monitoring for Safety
One of the challenges of dementia is that it causes older adults to do things that they wouldn’t normally do. Some of those actions may be unsafe, such as wandering or using an appliance inappropriately. At some point, people with dementia are unable to be alone for even a short amount of time. An elder care provider can supervise the older adult to make certain they stay safely in the home and don’t make unwise decisions that cause an injury or accident.
#2: Fulfilling and Enjoyable Activities
Older adults with dementia need things to do with their time just like everyone else. However, as dementia worsens, they will have trouble finding things to do on their own and difficulty doing certain activities. An elder care provider can assist them to get started doing an activity that they will enjoy or that will give them a sense of purpose. For example, an elder care provider can offer them a craft to do and show them how to do it. Or, they could give the senior a simple task to do that helps with housework, like folding laundry.
#3: Medication Reminders
Dementia has a profound impact on memory. One of the things your aging relative may forget is to take medications to treat dementia symptoms or for other medical conditions. While an elder care provider cannot administer medications, they can remind the senior to take them and stand by to ensure that they do.
#4: Social Interaction
Social interaction is an important part of leading a good quality life. When an older adult has dementia, they will eventually have difficulty interacting with others and will be unable to leave the house on their own. An elder care provider is a point of interaction for them and will have experience in communicating with older adults who have cognitive problems. In addition, an elder care provider can take the senior on outings where they will have a chance to interact with other people, such as to the senior center for an activity or just to the store.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Elder Care Services in Cambridge MA, or anywhere in Eastern Massachusetts, please call the caring staff at CARE Resolutions – (508) 906-5572.
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