6 Reasons You Should Care for an Older Loved One with Dementia at Home

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Taking Care of Senior with Dementia at Home in Des Moines, IA

When a senior receives a diagnosis of dementia, families often consider placing their aging loved one in an assisted living facility. It’s true that assisted living facilities can be helpful with providing around-the-clock care, but if possible, it’s best to let the senior stay at his or her current home. Providing care for a loved one with dementia while he or she lives at home comes with many important benefits.

1. Maintain a Familiar Environment

The most important reason to keep a senior with dementia at home is because he or she may have difficulty processing new information. Seniors with dementia often remember things from decades ago perfectly but cannot remember what happened last Tuesday. Helping your loved one stay at home in an area he or she has lived for a while can reduce confusion because he or she is more likely to recognize the environment.  Many older adults are choosing to age in place, and some need a helping hand to continue living at home safely and comfortably. Luckily, there is professional home care Des Moines, Iowa, seniors can trust and rely on.

2. Reduce Emotional Turmoil

Moving into assisted living often requires giving up a lot of important keepsakes and leaving a home filled with positive memories. This type of change can be difficult for anyone, and for a senior with dementia, it can be particularly heartbreaking. Staying at home tends to result in more stable moods and a more positive outlook.

3. Notice Changes More Easily

When there are multiple people taking care of a senior, it may be difficult for them to notice any small changes that might be an indication something is wrong. When seniors remain at home with just a few family members, the caregivers can more easily notice things like an abnormal lack of appetite that may mean their loved one needs to visit a doctor.

4. Make Daily Tasks Easier

Since seniors with dementia do better when they stick to familiar settings and old habits, staying at home helps them retain independence. When items like toothbrushes, clothes, silverware, cups, brooms, and pens are in the same spot they’ve been in for years, it may be easier for your loved one to find and use these items to perform daily tasks.  If your elderly loved one is living with a serious medical condition and needs help managing the tasks of daily living, reach out to Home Care Assistance, a Des Moines senior care agency you can trust. Our caregivers are available 24/7, there are no hidden fees in our contracts, and we offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all of our in-home care services.

5. Provide Customized Care

In an assisted living facility, there are generally a lot of rules and regulations in place to help staff care for a large number of seniors, which can lead to more “one size fits all” approaches. Staying at home lets family members and caregivers come up with more creative plans to provide care and lets seniors have their preferred mealtimes, unconventional sleeping arrangements, and many other unique things that make life easier.

6. Trigger Memory Recall

Seniors with dementia often cannot recall memories on demand, but the memories are still buried in the brain and are sometimes triggered by being in a certain place, eating a specific food, or smelling a scent. Being in a home where much of his or her life took place has a lot of strong associations that could stimulate your loved one’s memories. Dementia can be challenging for seniors to manage, but they can maintain a higher quality of life with the help of professional dementia care. Des Moines seniors can benefit greatly from the Cognitive Therapeutics Method (CTM), an activities-based program designed to promote cognitive health and delay the onset of dementia. CTM is included at no additional charge with any of the in-home care plans provided by Home Care Assistance. To learn more about our premier dementia and Alzheimer’s care, call (515) 264-2438 to speak with an experienced Care Manager.

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