Guides On Dementia Care At Home Miami-Dade County

By Mattie Knight


Dementia is a disease that affects the living of an individual completely. It changes the life of an individual and makes them vulnerable to many things. People living with dementia tend to face excessive anxiety, depression, sadness and tend to withdraw from the outside world. This disease makes them reliant on the care of other people because the patients are unable to undertake the normal living activities by themselves. The disease also affects the family of the affected as they are left wondering what to do for their loved ones to make life easy for them. There are practices of Dementia care at home Miami-Dade County that you can use to help your relative.

For some patients with this disease, valuable help could come from a hired care-worker to come into their home and help them with tasks such as cleaning, cooking, dressing and shopping. Support can also be provided through assistance from local authority. This includes services such as Meals on Wheels, laundry cleaning and library services. The most common form of assistance for many relatives of the patient is seeking the help of a care home. Care homes are better because they host various patients and this can enable them to engage and interact.

There are many services that a person suffering from dementia will require from their caregiver. The most important is feeding and preparation of meals. As the disease advances, a patient may fail to recognize food when placed in front of them. They may also fail to have the coordination to use a fork, knife or spoon. This makes feeding difficult for them. They can even refuse to eat at all resulting to malnutrition.

As the disease progresses, a patient coordination may drop to a point where even dressing becomes difficult. You can help them with dressing by ensuring they wear warm or cool clothes depending on the weather. When helping the patients to shop for new clothing, guide them to choose clothes that are easier to wear and manage.

Washing and bathing is also a support service that will be required by your patient. However, bathing a patient is always a difficult task considering that many adults receive bathing as a private task. It can be difficult for you as a caregiver too especially if this is your first time. Approach the task with an open mind and get the patient to trust you until they are comfortable with you washing them

Patients also need to be moved, lifted and made to sit. There are many circumstances when you will need to handle them physically such as when getting them out of bed, sitting them down and taking them for walks.

A patient may also face mobility problems and require a wheelchair. Buy them a wheelchair that is friendly to their use as well as yours. Such, for example, is a wheel chair that can be fold-able for easy carrying in your car.

Safety of the patient is also important to consider. As dementia progresses, patients lose balance and ability to react quickly. Their memory and judgment are also impaired and this can cause them to wander into unsafe areas such as an open swimming pool.




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