Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of Dementia which means memory loss.  Alzheimer’s disease progresses over time and in the process destroy brain cells causing a steady decline in memory and mental abilities. The Alzheimer’s disease damages brain cells that affect one’s cognitive ability, reasoning, thinking, memory, and judgment. All these affects one’s ability to function normally, daily routine, work, activities of daily living including one’s social life. Memory loss just gets worse. Alzheimer’s disease is fatal.

Approach to Alzheimer’s disease

There is not one particular approach to Alzheimer’s care. This is because there are no two individuals having the same experience with Alzheimer’s disease. If you are taking care of someone with Alzheimer’s disease, you will have to face enormous responsibility. This responsibility includes medication management, making health/medical and financial decisions, ensuring safety, and helping your loved one with his day to day life activities. The Alzheimer’s care is a challenging task that can be overwhelming at times. There is always something new each day to learn from the disease. There are new challenges to deal with as the disease progresses over time bringing changes in the behavior pattern of the patient.

Finding the Right Alzheimer’s/Dementia Facility

The late stages of Alzheimer’s care may be the time when to consider institutionalization. Key factors in determining when to send the elder in a facility include considering the patient’s physical and mental condition and also the caregiver’s well-being. There is a large number of facilities offering memory care but not all excel in Alzheimer’s care. Alzheimer’s facilities that excel tend to be very expensive. Finding the best care option for your loved one should be taken seriously. It should be discussed by the prospective resident himself (though not much help because of the memory loss), family members, and even friends who are involved in his care. Research and examine all options available to get the best care your loved one needs and wants.

Exploring options for Alzheimer’s care

It is best to plan ahead always. Explore all your options in searching for Alzheimer’s care housing and living arrangements. The senior housing ideal for Alzheimer’s care is a community that caters from the early to the late stages of the disease. They have special care units designed to meet the specific needs of Alzheimer’s residents. Finding the most appropriate facility where your loved one would perfectly fit in would improve his quality of life even  if disease seemed fatal.

The Alzheimer’s challenge

It is an extremely challenging experience to care for parents with Alzheimer’s. There are no notes you can read to learn about “the best way to care for Alzheimer’s patients” as there are no two (2) cases that are alike.  Things to consider when deciding for the most appropriate care option include proper assessment of the level of care, competence and experience of staff, family’s budget for the cost of care, location for convenience in visiting, and properly licensed facility offering Alzheimer’s care.

Tags : Alzheimer's, Care, Dementia, health

By : Maria Luisa Agustin

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 10:37 am 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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