Alzheimer’s – Is it safe to live alone?

Dementia is a disease affecting the brain.  Dementia is defined as a serious loss of cognitive functions.   It significantly affects a person’s lifestyle, personality, behavior, emotional, and social life. Dementia can dramatically progresses and is fatal.  Getting information on dementia care and dementia caregivers would also be helpful in managing the disease.  As the disease progresses, seniors with dementia may develop psychological and behavioral symptoms that leads to having a changed personality.  As the disease worsens, it may be time to move the dementia resident to a more restrictive or secured environment.

Family caregivers face the challenge

Family caregivers face the challenge of coping with difficult behavioral and personality changes brought by dementia.  In-home care services would sound very appealing as an alternate care option to relieve family caregivers.  Dementia caregivers would play an important role here.  But, other situations may compromise the person’s safety and well-being.  Common behavioral symptoms include wandering, combativeness, aggressiveness, sun downing, confusion, and agitation.  Senior’s safety becomes a concern.   In this case, a move to a dementia assisted living community that is more supervised and supportive may have to be considered.

Risks and dangers

There are many concerns and dangers associated with living alone for seniors with dementia.  These are skipping meals, decline of personal hygiene, and risking personal safety.  These should alert family members to contact social workers, senior’s primary care physician for advice, home care agencies, and referral agencies to secure necessary support. Search for a good dementia assisted living home would then be a priority.  Getting more information on dementia facilities would be helpful as well. As problems with memory and judgment increase, senior with dementia becomes vulnerable to accidents and injuries.  The need for dementia assisted living home to provide an active, supportive, and watchful environment where assistance is available is very important.  This is to protect the senior’s safety and well-being.

Look for the right dementia assisted living home

The seniors’ functioning level may decline when seniors with dementia are placed in an environment that is lacking the personal service they need.  Find a dementia assisted living community that offers services that meet the seniors’ unique needs.  Get information on dementia caregivers and their training.  Good dementia assisted living homes provide a structured environment designed to prevent further agitations, confusion, and stress.  Seniors with dementia should be grouped with other seniors rather than isolate them or let them live alone at home.   Placing them with seniors alike will give them more social stimulation.  Dementia assisted living communities provide lots of social and mental stimulation and customized professional care.

No longer safe to live alone at home

When family caregivers can no longer provide 24 hour care for their loved one with dementia, it is best to move the individual to a dementia assisted living home or community.   Best care plan would be to find a home that will be able to accommodate the senior resident’s increasing level of care for the rest of the senior’s life.

Tags : Alzheimer's, Dementia

By : admin

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 18th, 2010 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Dementia/Alzheimer's, Health and Medical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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