The Importance of Home Care for Those With Dementia

Dealing with dementia can be tough on a family. It’s heartbreaking to watch an elderly loved one struggle to accomplish tasks that they once completed easily. Additionally, it can also put a serious strain on the caretaker, who is probably busy with work, children, and other commitments. When it comes to senior care, the professionals of Always Best Care Asheville-Hendersonville explain that hiring someone to assist your loved one is often the best way to ensure that they enjoy a high quality of life.

It’s simply not possible for you to attend to your elderly loved one’s needs on a daily basis, while also caring for your children, working, and maintaining a relationship with your spouse. For this reason, seeking assistance from an eldercare professional will become essential. Even if this person only stops by a few days each week, their help takes a serious burden off of family members, and ensures that the senior has everything they need to live well.

How home care can help

Despite their struggles with dementia, it’s likely that your elderly loved one will still crave their independence. To satisfy your senior without putting their health or safety at risk, home care is a must. Your elderly loved one gets to stay in their own space, but doesn’t have to worry about going grocery shopping, remembering to take their medication, or cleaning up the house. 

Studies show that a technique known as “graded assistance” can be highly beneficial for seniors with dementia. Graded assistance is essentially a way to help an elderly individual accomplish a task with the least amount of aid possible. Home care professionals rely on verbal prompts, physical guidance, and partial physical assistance in order to help the senior function without feeling as if they are helpless. If your senior is particularly resistant to the idea of home care or help in general, this approach may be ideal. 

Other effective care strategies for seniors with dementia

Music is also a powerful tool to soothe seniors who are facing dementia. It is common for elderly individuals with dementia to lash out and display aggressive behavior. Studies show that music can help to soothe these undesirable behaviors, while also helping your elderly loved one to relax. If your senior is particularly passionate about a type of music, play a few songs for them when they begin to become irritable or agitated.

While it’s never easy to watch a loved one deal with the effects of dementia, proper home care and an understanding of the condition allow you to do your part to keep your elderly loved one well cared for. 

Safety Goals to Focus on in the New Year

While many people are committing themselves to an exercise regimen or an improved diet as 2014 rolls around, those who care for elderly individuals often have different priorities in mind. When it comes to home care, the professionals of Always Best Care Asheville-Hendersonville explain that safety should remain a priority. In fact, the new year is a great time to re-evaluate the safety of your loved one’s home, allowing you to make necessary changes to protect them.

Safety priorities

As you begin to analyze your elderly loved one’s home, home care professionals advise focusing on the following areas:

• Check smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors to ensure that they’re working properly
• Ensure that there is a fire extinguisher readily accessible
• Verify that your senior has a well established emergency escape plan in the event of a fire or other unexpected situation
• Make sure that fireplaces are outfitted with protective screens
• Verify that the home is properly lit, and check to make sure that bulbs haven’t burnt out near walkways, porches, and outside stairways

Taking care of hazards around the home

Senior care professionals explain that it is important for a caregiver to address any hazards that may exist in an elderly individual’s living space. To do this, attend to the following:

• Eliminate raised doorway thresholds
• Get rid of clutter, particularly if it is on the floor where your senior could trip on it
• Attend to loose carpet that could become a tripping hazard
• Use nonskid floor wax
• Shift furniture and electrical cords so that they are not lying where people are walking
• Add sturdy handrails to stairs
• Install nightlights in hallways and bathrooms
• Make sure that the property is cared for, and that snow and ice are taken care of regularly

Bathrooms are another common place where slips and falls occur. To make sure that your senior stays safe in the bathroom, focus on the following:

• Install shower chairs or bath benches for a safer bathing experience
• Put grab handles into place in bathrooms
• Make sure the tub is outfitted with nonskid mats
• Encourage your senior to get into the shower by putting their weaker leg in first, and suggest that they exit by placing their stronger leg first.

Regardless of your senior’s level of independence, it is always wise to put safety measures in place to prevent accidents from happening as they attend to daily tasks.

How to Make Long Term Care Plans For Your Senior

Regardless of how energetic and active your elderly loved one is, it is always wise to have a long-term care plan in place. Planning for long term care allows the family to get organized and make decisions that will allow the elderly individual to live in comfort as they age.

The key components of long term planning

When a family begins to make long term plans for their senior, they should focus on the follow aspects of care:

• Health decisions
• Legal decisions
• Financial decisions

The home care team at Always Best Care of Asheville-Hendersonville encourages families to work with their seniors on creating an advance directive, which spells out a senior’s wishes for medical care in the event of an emergency or the end of their life.

An advance directive allows your elderly loved one to specify who will make medical decisions on their behalf in the event that they are not able to do so for whatever reason. Though the topic may be hard to deal with, it is important to discuss, as it helps to take the burden off the family and ensures that the senior will have their wishes heard. Expertise and guidance from a lawyer can be useful during this process.

Making important financial decisions

Eldercare professionals encourage families to work with their elderly loved ones in order to make financial plans, which are another important part of long-term planning. It is important that you have a plan in place about how your senior’s care will be paid for when it becomes necessary. Some people prefer to split the burden among family members, while some seniors like to use their own savings to provide for this care. This is a personal decision and there is no right answer, but it is important that there are measures established that ensure that there is enough money available to cover the cost of this necessity.

Making appropriate living arrangements

Part of the aging process includes ensuring that your senior understands the value of their assets, and knows how they would like to proceed when they are no longer capable of caring for a home on their own. Though it may be several years before your elderly loved one looks to sell their home and move into a retirement community or with family, it is still important to plan for this date. This type of advance planning helps to relieve stress and make it easier to execute the senior’s wishes accordingly when the time comes.

Regardless of how difficult the conversation may be, long term planning is a necessary part of home care. When you have these discussions early on, you can feel confident that your senior’s wishes will be executed exactly as they would like.

Seasons Greetings: Christmas Carol Teaser

As Always Best Care Asheville gears up for the holidays, we've developed a fun Christmas Carol teaser for you and your family members to complete. Below you will find a list of letters. Each row of letters is associated to a Christmas Carol. Guess the name of the Christmas Carol in the comments below, and we will post the answers a few days before Christmas!

Here's an example: JTTW           Answer: Joy to the World

1. OCOCE 
2. WIAWW
3. AIAM
4. SN 
5. DTH 
6. UOTHT 
7. WWYAMC
8. OCT
9. SCICTT 
10. AIWFCIMTFT
11. HCSC 
12. LIS, LIS, LIS 
13. HTHAS 
14. WTKOOA 
15. HYAMLC
16. TFN 
17. OHN 
18. ICUAMC 
19. ISMKSC
20. LDB
21. BONUS:   MCTAATAAGN (CHRISTMAS PHRASE)

Holiday Season Tips for Caregivers

As a home care provider for an elderly loved one, it’s normal to feel disappointment or frustration that certain traditions from years past can no longer be executed as your senior ages. However, there is no need to give up on making the season a joy-filled one. Here are some ways to ensure that the holiday season is an exciting time for your senior and your family.

Get them involved

The home care professionals of Always Best Care Asheville-Hendersonville explain that simply getting your senior involved is one of the best ways to make the holiday season a happy time. Even if your elderly loved one is not as mobile as they once were, there are plenty of ways to ensure that they get into the holiday spirit too. Holiday activities can easily be adapted to fit your loved one’s ability levels.

Have them help you polish the menorah, wrap presents, decorate the tree, or mail holiday cards. If they are unable to get fully involved in these activities, encourage them to keep you company as you do them. This allows them to enjoy the festivities, regardless of what they can or cannot do on their own. You can also read them holiday stories, or have them join you in singing Christmas carols.

Invite visitors, but don’t overwhelm your senior

If your elderly loved one is missing out on the fun of holiday parties this season, why not bring the party to them? It doesn’t have to be complex or expensive. Serve traditional foods, play holiday music, and add decorations to their home. However, remember to approach the situation from your senior’s point of view. You may think that inviting the whole extended family over is a great way to cheer your senior up, but to them this may be confusing. If they have not seen some of the relatives in years and struggle to remember who they are, they may start to feel overwhelmed. For this reason, you’ll want to keep the guest list small and full of familiar faces.

In order to keep the experience pleasant for everyone involved, spend some time going over the guest list with your senior before company arrives. You may want to show them pictures of the people who will be coming, and remind them how they know this person. This can help them to feel more comfortable as unfamiliar people enter their home.

Lastly, flexibility is key when it comes to celebrating the holidays with your senior. Put plans into place, but don’t be afraid to change them if it becomes clear that your senior is feeling tired or overwhelmed.