Alzheimer’s disease requires a lot from both family caregivers and seniors who live with the illness. Cognitive decline and the other symptoms that come with Alzheimer’s take a huge toll on everyone involved. Working with Alzheimer’s home care providers can help seniors with cognitive illnesses to feel more empowered and in control of their lives, even as their conditions worsen.
Encouraging Independence
Alzheimer’s patients need to remain as independent as possible for as long as they can. It helps them have purpose and maintain well-being. Alzheimer’s home care providers might take over some more complicated tasks but let seniors do what they still can as much as possible.
Offering Simplified Choices
Something that is sometimes easy to forget is that seniors with cognitive illnesses benefit greatly from having choices. The problem is that aging adults may feel confused or stuck when those choices are complicated. Simplifying choices as much as possible allows seniors to remain involved and choose what they want without being overwhelmed.
Providing Supportive Tools
There is a wide range of supportive tools that Alzheimer’s patients can find helpful. Safety tools like grab bars or canes, memory aids, technology, and more all help seniors with cognitive illnesses continue to live their lives. Alzheimer’s care providers can help make these tools available and assist seniors with using them.
Respecting Dignity
Just because someone has Alzheimer’s disease or another cognitive illness doesn’t mean they don’t deserve their privacy or dignity. Eldercare providers understand this and go out of their way to ensure they respect the dignity of the people in their care. This also helps to build trust, which is essential in all caregiving relationships.
Adapting Routines and Tasks
Routines offer a lot of support for seniors, especially if they’re dealing with a cognitive illness. Modifying those routines slightly allows Alzheimer’s home care providers to accommodate changing needs while also offering assistance. Leaving those base routines in place as much as possible can be soothing.
Allowing Extra Time
Often, seniors with cognitive illnesses just need extra time. They need time to process communication and to do the things they can still do. When they’re forced to rush, that leads to frustration and anxiety, which can be easily avoided. Senior care providers leave plenty of room in daily tasks and routines for Alzheimer’s patients to move at their own pace.
Using Gentle Prompts
As cognition changes, remembering what comes next can become more difficult, even in familiar routines and tasks. Caregivers use gentle prompts and visual aids to help seniors move on to the next step. Using gentle prompts is important in avoiding overwhelm, which can cause people to shut down.
Independence and dignity are still very possible, even when seniors with cognitive illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease need a lot of hands-on help. Alzheimer’s home care providers can help families put care plans in place that use tools and techniques that support a gentle and respectful method for caring for seniors with cognitive illnesses.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Alzheimer’s Home Care in Swampscott, MA, please contact the caring staff at Uniting With You Home Care today. Call (781) 593-1682.
Uniting With You Home Care is a Trusted Home Care Agency serving Marblehead, Nahant, Salem, Danvers, Lynn, Saugus, Revere, Beverly, Malden, Peabody, Melrose, Chelsea, East Boston, Middleton, Andover, Lynnfield, Somerville, Swampscott, Everett, Winthrop, all of the North Shore, and Essex County.
Our staff includes nurses (RNs and LPNs), Home Health Aides (HHAs) and Personal Care Attendants (PCAs). We also offer Homemaker/Companion Care and other supportive services, available to our clients 24/7. All staff members are bilingual (English/Spanish). Through continuing education opportunities, we ensure that all staff members employed by Uniting With You Home Care maintain their professional development and exceed industry skill standards.
We recognize that welcoming caregivers and companions into your home requires a high level of trust and confidence. To ensure this trust, all staff members are carefully screened through extensive background checks.
Uniting With You Home Care provides services to clients on the North Shore and Greater Boston area; payment for services is accepted through Medicare or private pay.
