Dementia is one of those things where people know that it exists and they know what the symptoms are, but until you have experienced what it is like when a loved one suffers from this, the knowledge is only academic knowledge and not applicable to real life. When a loved one has Alzheimer’s or any type of dementia, academic knowledge is often no longer helpful. These are real issues, and real solutions are needed.
This is not to say that knowing about Alzheimer’s is not important. It is. But it’s just a starting point. Dementia is something that families are often completely unprepared for, simply because it impacts so many different levels. There is the fact that caring for an elderly loved one is physically demanding, of course, but there’s also an emotional side to things. The end result is not that a family member is physically unable to care for a loved one, but that the combination of stressors makes family care too difficult to effectively provide.
Some individuals are perfectly capable of helping a loved one, but the vast majority are not. The problem is that many families that want to provide care as a family member do not know just how tough the emotional aspect of helping a loved one with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia truly is. It is an extremely trying process, and even the most knowledgeable and loving of family members find themselves struggling once in a while when it comes to providing senior care. There are many professional solutions out there that can alleviate some of the stress of providing care. In-home care is one of the most common solutions that is applied here. In these cases, a professional caregiver trained to work with elderly individuals with dementia comes into your loved one’s home and helps them with their daily tasks, manages their medications, and keeps an eye on them. For those that have a full time job, in-home care can be a great solution, as long as their are no medical needs that are being overlooked.
Another type of care that can be used here is respite care. Although very similar to in-home care, it is on a more limited basis. Where an in-home caregiver can provide anywhere from 20 to 60 hours of assistance per week, a respite caregiver only works for a few hours or a few days at a time. This allows the family members that typically provide care to take a break.
Because this is still memory care that we are talking about, it’s important that you keep all of the factors that you would look for in a full time caregiver in mind. You want any caregiver you bring into the home to be professionally trained for the specific needs that your loved one has. Before you hire a caregiver–of any sort–you want to be completely sure that they are the right caregiver for your loved one and all of the other needs that your family might have.
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