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A person with Dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease has a progressive brain disorder.  The initial diagnosis itself can be depressing and frightening.  As of today, there is no real cure for these diseases.  Caring for a family member with Dementia or Alzheimer’s is very overwhelming.  Home care can greatly help to make an overwhelming situation more manageable.

When people have Dementia or Alzheimer’s their ability to care for themselves diminishes.  Overtime, their abilities get worse and worse.  Some days can be worse than others, and each day is unpredictable. Home care can help by providing a trained caregiver to assist with what we call activities of daily Living or ADLs.  ADLs include eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring (walking) and incontinence.

Eating is different and sometimes difficult for a person with Dementia or Alzheimer’s.  There can be extremes, where a person either wants to eat all the time or they rarely want to eat.  Of course, the goal is to maintain a healthy, nutritious, and consistent diet.  Some of the things that a home care caregiver will do to improve eating is to establish mealtime as a time to promote social interaction, structure, and independence.  The home care caregiver will establish a mealtime routine that will make mealtime a special time.  The Plan of Care that is developed by the home care team with assistance of the client’s physician includes a Diet Order.  The Diet Order will take into account the individual needs of the client.  For example, the Diet Order may include things like soft foods, foods cut into small pieces, low sodium, low or high calories diet, diabetic diet, etc.  The home care caregiver will prepare the meal and encourage the client to eat the meal independently.  Naturally, the caregiver will assist with eating if needed, but the goal is to promote independence.

A person with Dementia or Alzheimer’s can have trouble remembering that they need to bath in order to maintain good hygiene.  Bathing can be scary and confusing for a Dementia or Alzheimer’s client.  This experience can also be embarrassing and uncomfortable for a family member that is providing cares.  Home care can help by having a trained caregiver assist with the bathing.  With home care, a bathing routine is established in the Plan of Care. The home care Plan of Care will specify what type of bath (bed, sponge, tub, or shower) the caregiver should give, and what other hygiene activities should be completed. Some other hygiene activities can include assisting with brushing teeth, combing hair, trimming nails, applying lotion or ointment, etc.  The home care caregiver will instruct and allow the Dementia or Alzheimer’s client to independently do as much bathing as possible and assist as needed.  Caregivers are trained to be patient and calm.

Dressing can be a challenging task for someone with Dementia or Alzheimer’s. Remembering to change clothes daily, choosing what clothes to wear, and getting the clothes on and off can be difficult.  As with bathing, this can also be an embarrassing and uncomfortable task for a family member.  A home care caregiver is trained to take their time and assist the Dementia or Alzheimer’s client to get dressed.  The home care caregiver will promote as much independence as possible, while assisting when needed.

Using the toilet can be difficult and incontinence can be expected.  A person with Dementia or Alzheimer’s needs to be regularly reminded to use the toilet.  As the disease progresses, the person can become incontinent, losing control of their bladder or bowel.  A home care caregiver can help by reminding the client to use the toilet every two to three hours and assisting as needed.  The home care caregiver can also help put on adult diapers or pads, change them, and clean up as needed.  This, as with many other caregiver activities, can be embarrassing and uncomfortable for a family member.  If the Physician prescribes something additional to help with incontinence, the home care caregiver or home care nurse can help administer the prescription.

A person with Dementia or Alzheimer’s may need assistance to ambulate, transfer, or walk, or they may be capable of doing these things themselves.  If they need assistance, the home health caregiver is trained to help the person transfer and ambulate.  If they are capable of doing these tasks themselves, it is important to monitor them for wandering.  During the time the caregiver is providing cares, they can monitor the client.  This can give much needed respite for a family member that is providing cares.

If you have a family member that has Dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease, and think that home care might benefit you and your loved one, please consider PHCS for your home health care needs.

These are some links to other resources about Dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease:

http://www.alz.org/sewi/

http://www.alz.org/care/alzheimers-dementia-in-home-health.asp

http://www.nia.nih.gov/sites/default/files/alzheimers_caregiver_guide.pdf

http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/ss/slideshow-alzheimers-overview