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Dementia is a degenerative illness. Therefore, those diagnosed with it go through a variety of stages, each of which impacts significantly on the brain’s ability to function as it did in a healthy state. During the early stages, someone diagnosed with this terrible illness may not display or experience any noticeable changes. They can live independently with little care or assistance. However, with time, patients will encounter problems with thinking speed, their abilities to fully understand and judge situations, as well as communicate. When a patient reaches this stage they’ll need to be cared for – either by a loved one or a professional carer. Regardless of the source of this care, a dementia care strategy will need to be drawn up. Because of the on-going deterioration involved in dementia, a dementia care strategy that takes into account the various stages and their impact is really important. Although, dementia can’t really be divided up into stages, it helps to separate them up into such a set-up whilst creating a dementia care strategy. For those providing care for an ill loved one, there’s often little time to prepare to provide care; they often get chucked in at the very deep end. However, it’s important, whilst undertaking the task of devising a dementia care strategy, to ensure that you fully understand the stages of dementia. Providing care in any situation is a challenge. Dementia care, though, provides more challenges than most. You’ll encounter many difficult situations as the care recipient’s condition deteriorates. During all stages the overall aim of dementia care should be to ensure that care recipient remains as comfortable as possible. During the early stages, the dementia care strategy should involve a lot of discussion. These discussions should involve a great deal of talk regarding who’s going to be responsible for making any financial or care-related decisions once the patient reaches a stage where they’re unable to make these decisions for themselves. It’s also important to ensure the dementia care strategy focuses heavily on adjustment. The patient is in a new position – dealing with the early stages of dementia – and so is the caregiver. As the care provider, you need to allow the care recipient to get used to have you around more often. Even if you’re a close family member, there’s still a lot of adjustment that needs to be taken into account. As part of a dementia care strategy you need to inform all family members of the patient’s condition. Depending on the situation, you may need to alter your dementia care strategy as you go along. The care recipient’s condition may dictate that major changes need to be made to the home environment. You need to establish a daily routine too in your dementia care strategy. Drastic change can cause unnecessary discomfort for someone dealing with dementia. No dementia care strategy is ever going to be the same. But it’s always worth talking to someone who’s provided dementia care in the past. They may be able to provide you with some invaluable advice. This article looks at the how one could go about creating a dementia care strategy when caring for an ill loved one. Find out more about Dementia care at Helping Hands.
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