According to at least one survey, the majority of Americans that are suffering from cognitive impairment are still actively driving.
This study was a Michigan Medicine project that focused on communities in Southern Texas. The study looked at more than 600 elderly individuals with cognitive assessment scores that suggested that impairment was present in Nueces County, Texas. Of that population, more than 61 percent of them were currently driving.
Obviously, this raises some big concerns. The results of this study, which were published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, also addresses some of these concerns. For example, the study found that about one-third of seniors driving with some sort of impairment present had caregivers that had expressed concerns about their being able to continue to drive in a safe manner. Safety for your loved one and other people in the community should be a top priority, even if it is a somewhat difficult topic to address.
Now, concerns alone do not necessarily mean that a safety threat is present. But when someone has a cognitive impairment and there are serious concerns present, there’s a strong chance that many of these concerns are quite valid. Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy situation to resolve.
Elderly individuals continuing to drive is a very sensitive topic, simply because there isn’t a set of rules or regulations that dictates at what point someone should be required to relinquish their driving privilege. There are tests and exams for obtaining your driver’s license, but there is nothing in place to determine when one should be taken away. This can make the process a very difficult one to navigate.
Dementia is one of the hardest things for an individual to go through, oftentimes because they don’t ever fully realize the negative impact that it is having on their lives. When someone struggles with dementia, cognitive functioning slowly declines, and this can make it so that the individual in question doesn’t even realize that they have needs that are not being met. And unfortunately, this is a reality that thousands of people are going through every single day.
Driving is just one aspect of this. Taking away the keys from a loved one, or having an open conversation about your concerns regarding their cognitive health is never easy. It will be one of the toughest things that you will ever have to do.
You don’t need to have this conversation alone. Having the help of a professional on your side, one that knows senior care and how it can help them to live a better life. Senior care might not be needed at this point, but starting the conversation early and helping to understand their needs and how to meet them a little bit better never hurts.
But then again, senior care might be precisely what you’re looking for to help give your older loved one suffering from dementia or cognitive impairment the support that they need to thrive as they age.
If you are interested in learning more about senior care and how it can help those suffering from cognitive decline, we’re always happy to talk. Get in touch with us today to start the conversation.
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