Dementia is characterised by a loss in memory, language, problem-solving, understanding, and thinking skills that affect the patient’s day to day activities. This no cure disease is more common among elder patients that require homecare treatment especially when they enter the final chapter of their lives. Although, caring for your senior might seem like a noble job, but dementia care is marked by stubbornness and resisting care. The daunting and challenging aspect of this disease makes people easily give up. However, with a little knowledge about dementia and a positive attitude, you can provide the much-need care to your senior suffering from dementia. Here’s what you need to consider when you start to care for elder patients of dementia at homecare.
Begin with asking support and help. It can be you caregiving someone in your family or just doing it professionally, support groups can be helpful for caregivers. It can help you to understand what can work for you and whatnot, on the practical ground. Caregiving dementia patient is not easy, even if you’re a professional, there’s no harm in needing a hand or someone to talk to.
Remember, caring for someone starts with compassion and empathy. There might be times when caring for the elderly patient can give you a hard time. Try to imagine how you would have felt if you were in their place with the lapse of orientation.
One must stay positive and realistic about what constitutes success during the progression of dementia.The real success would assure the patient’s comfort, happiness, and safety as much as possible. The homecare process will have both good and bad days, focus on the good, and be easy on the patient.
Although memory loss is a classic sign of dementia, not all types of dementia are only about mere memory loss. A dementia patient can also experience a neurological decline, mood changes, personality changes, difficult behaviours and other delusions. In time they will require help in daily living activities and might also become non-communicative, unable to recognise people and unable to move around on their own.
However, the only change in this condition can come when you care for someone with dementia. One must prepare themselves for financial sources to plan out the treatment at home that require medical experts. As the most types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, are irreversible with no known cure, homecare can help them to deal with the changes.
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