More than five million people in the United States suffer from dementia, characterized with loss of memory and focus, which is often associated with Alzheimer’s disease. In this brain disorder, the patient suffers from inability to think and reason normally. When it becomes severe, it affects the person’s daily activities. Partners in Health Care has several years of experience with managing patients with this problem and offers assistance with home health care to families.
Dementia’s prevalence is 3% in people between 47-65 years of age, and 47% in people above 85 years. There can be other causes of dementia, like Lewy body dementia, corticobasal degeneration, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, normal pressure hydrocephalus progressive supranuclear palsy, and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. However, Alzheimer’s diseases accounts for 75% of dementia cases.
When the disease is in its early stages, Cholinesterase inhibitors are useful because they help control the condition. It is important to educate families and help the patient with emotional support. Behavioral and cognitive interventions would be appropriate, and joining exercise programs helps improve dementia.
Partners in Health Care is the best memory care agency, and the team of caregivers here understands that each individual behaves differently because of the varying impact on the patients’ memory. This is also why they offer customized services and home care assistance for families who want to take care of the patient themselves.
There are times where private home care shows better progress because people they love and get love from surround patients. Caring for elderly at home can be tedious, but with some simple guidelines, handling dementia cases at home is easy to manage. Professionals at Partners in Health Care have made an elderly home safety checklist to help keep patients with Alzheimer’s disease at home safe:
- Make a wander loop (area within which the patient can move around safely and freely)
- Place reflector tapes to guide the patient along commonly used rooms and places in the house
- Conceal and secure all radiators and electrical outlets
- Lock doors to garages and basements
- Lock cabinets where you store liquor, medicines, cleaning supplies, and any sort of toxic substances
- Keep firearms out of reach. Never keep loaded guns and keep bullets out of reach
- Install automatic home safety gadgets like alarms and locks for all doors and gates
- Remove glare-creating surfaces and shiny surfaces, and remove lighting that may create shadows because they confuse patients with dementia
- Remove mirrors if the patient suffers from hallucinations
- Make sure the car keys are inaccessible
- Do not leave patients unattended while they smoke
- Hire a caregiver or aide with certification from training to help with supervision of your home health care
- Constantly reassess your loved one to make necessary changes in your approach with dementia home care
Home health care of patients with loss of memory and focus requires a lot of love giving, patience, caution and attentiveness. The team at Partners in Health Care is always there to assist in any way possible, and encourages families to discuss their thoughts, concerns and fears with them.
The nurses at Partners in Healthcare are available to talk with you about your in-home senior care needs including how to stay healthy at home with RN managed affordable care. We are a private duty home care agency that provides elder home care serves in the Orlando area, call us at 407-788-9393.