5 Ways for a Dementia Caregiver to Get Help

Dementia care isn’t easy for families. The early stages of dementia often involve mild cognitive changes that may start to make it unsafe for your senior loved one to be alone all day. Later, you can expect your loved one will need overnight care to further reduce the risk of getting hurt or wandering away from home. Taking care of your loved one’s needs may be stressful, but knowing how to get help can alleviate some of the burden you might feel from shouldering the bulk of the responsibilities associated with his or her care.

1. Acknowledge Where You Need Help

Your first step is to figure out what types of help you need. Since dementia symptoms fall across a broad range, your loved one may need a different type of help compared to someone else with the same condition. Take a look at your daily routine to figure out which tasks could be given to someone else. For instance, you may be stressed out by handling all your loved one’s nutritional needs, and having a professional caregiver help with grocery shopping and meal preparation can make this part of the care routine easier. Caring for a loved one with dementia is a challenging task for anyone. The responsibilities can sometimes feel overwhelming, but help is available. Seniors can face a variety of age-related challenges. Though some families choose to take on the caregiving duties, there may come a time when they need a trusted in-home care provider. Families sometimes need respite from their duties so they can focus on their other responsibilities, and some seniors need around-the-clock assistance that their families are not able to provide. Home Care Assistance is here to help.

2. Explore Different Types of Support

Family caregivers have several places they can turn for help. Many communities have volunteers who provide limited services to seniors, such as making check-in phone calls. You may have family members who are capable of helping with your loved one’s dementia care. You also have the option of having a caregiver visit your loved one at home to provide assistance.

3. Put Together a List of People Willing to Help

Once you’ve figured out the support options available to you, your next step is to begin to reach out for help. Start by checking in with responsible family members you can rely on to stick to their commitments. For instance, your sibling might be willing to set your loved one’s home up to be safer by installing locks and camera systems that help you monitor daily activities. Having a professional caregiver nearby can give you peace of mind about your loved one’s safety and comfort. Not every senior has the same care needs, which means they don’t all need the same type of senior care. Arlington families can rely on Home Care Assistance to provide individualized care plans to meet their elderly loved ones’ unique care needs. Our holistic Balanced Care Method was designed to help seniors focus on healthy lifestyle habits such as eating nutritious foods, exercising regularly, and maintaining strong social ties, and our Cognitive Therapeutics Method offers mentally stimulating activities that can stave off cognitive decline and delay the onset of dementia.

4. Look at the Long-Term Prognosis

As you look for resources to help, you need to remember your loved one’s needs will change as he or she moves through the stages of dementia. Ideally, you should stay at least one step ahead of what you think your loved one’s care needs are at the moment. For instance, having an overnight caregiver stay in the home early on prevents your parent from having a chance to wander away before you think he or she would.

5. Arrange for Professional Home Care Services

With dementia care, your loved one will likely reach a point where he or she cannot be left alone at all. This stage of dementia caregiving is often the most challenging because there aren’t enough family members, friends, or volunteers from the community who can help. Professional in-home caregivers are always available to keep seniors safe, and they can provide regular care or stop by occasionally to fill in so your loved one’s care plan is always covered. Dementia can be challenging for seniors to manage, but they can maintain a higher quality of life with the help of professional dementia care. Arlington 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 reliable, compassionate in-home care services, contact us at (817) 591-1580 today.