Post from: Blisstree

Alzheimer’s Around the World: Hong Kong Day Care Center.

This will involve more planning and scheduling for caregivers of the sandwich generation as their generally flexible or relaxed days of summer disappear and they coexist with school schedules.  And Grandma or Grandpa may have no idea of schedule, needing attention just when school activities and homework also require your time.

When I cared for my mom, I had no children at home.  However, those months she was staying in our home (when she could no longer live in hers), I also was substitute teaching.  Fortunately I had day care for her at a nearby nursing home, but I had to get her up and dressed and leave her there before getting to school.  They did feed her breakfast at the home and usually she looked forward to that if I could get her focused.

I often was met with resistance though.  “I don’t want to get up.”  “I’m tired,” because she’d been roaming around the house most of the night.  “Just because you have to go to school doesn’t mean I have to go out.”  To compound matters, this was mid- winter in New Hampshire, so we often contended with snow and cold, too.

Sometime I’d think, “It would be easier having a child.  I could just pick them up and take them to the car,” when Mother decided to go slow motion.  I wondered if she sensed it annoyed me.  Or she just unable to move faster that morning.

It would have been so handy to have had a Magic School Bus to whisk her to the nursing home! 

                                           Since I didn’t, it required:

Planning and getting as much as I could ready the night before.  During those days, I usually didn’t take early morning subbing calls (as I do now), but needed at least to know the night before so I could plan for getting Mother ready.

Develop a system.  You might not always be able to keep with it.  But it’s a routine that will help keep you on track.

Retain your patience and sense of humor. It’s difficult sometimes, but Mother reacted better if we could laugh at situations.

Keep items that must go to school with me out of the Mother’s reach or they may be displaced in the morning.  This can happen especially if Alzheimer’s patients tend to roam at night.

How is “back-to-school” affecting your home as you care for an Alzheimer’s parent and get children to school?  What methods do use?

Post from: Blisstree

How Will “Back-to-School” Affect Alzheimer’s Caregivers?

Their three month study focused on whether increased staff training and a more supportive environment would result in increased weight in patients with moderate and severe dementia.

The results concluded that weight gain can occur in Alzheimer’s patients by:

- improving communication and patient involvement
- altering meal routines
- providing a more homely environment

The results of this study have been published in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Reference article: Alzheimer’s Weight Gain Initiative Also Improved Patient’s Intellectual Ablities

Post from: Blisstree

Maintaining optimum weight for Alzheimer’s patients.

Mother lagged behind, petting her cat, taking off her hat and gloves, stopping to look at a magazine on the table while I stuffed her extra sweater, a change of underwear, and a magazine into the tote bag. Finally we were in the car and heading to the nearby nursing home that also offered day care.

When Mother was no longer able to care for herself, Jim and I moved her from New York State to our home in New Hampshire.  However, I was a substitute teacher and needed care for her while I was at work.  Fortunately a nursing home in our town furnished day care.

This was a fairly convenient arrangement.  Although it’s never totally convenient to bundle an 83-year old lady with Alzheimer’s into winter clothing at 7 AM and take her outside when she isn’t sure why she has to leave the warm house.  However, once she reached the nursing home, she enjoyed the warm breakfast waiting for her and the friendliness of the staff and other residents.  I’d pick her up aftr school or when I’d completed any shopping and errands for that day.

When Alzheimer’s progresses to the point where the person with this disease cannot be left alone, day care can be a solution for awhile.  However, finding day care facilities for Alzheimer’s patients isn’t easy.  Our society is just beginning to realize that this type of facility is needed as much as day care for children.

Sometimes you’ll find day care offered at community centers for senior citizens.  When one is in the mid- or later stages of Alzheimer’s, though, they need more care than the staff at the senior center is able to provide.  In the beginning stages, the community or senior center often can give your family member a place to be with others and a noon meal. 

Day care prices vary and might be calculated by the day or by the hour.  They’re similar to what you’d pay for youngsters needing day care arrangements, although they may be higher.  I was fortunate I could pay only for the days and hours I needed and didn’t have to pay by the week.  Some places you may have to commit for a particular number of days or hours as one often must with chidlren’s day care.

To find more about day care in your area, consult your state’s Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Elderly and Adult Services.  Also your local hospital may have information, as well as the senior center, or a home health agency.  If there is a nursing home nearby, check to see if they offer day care.

Post from: Blisstree

Day Care for Alzheimer’s Patients

Consider these suggestions:

1.Realize you can’t do everything and be everything.

2. Realize you can’t solve your family member’s every problem and make them happy all the time.

3. Take time for yourself.

4. Take time for your family, independent of the Alzheimer’s patient.

5. Smile and develop a sense of humor.  “We don’t laugh enough,” my mom once remarked to me.

6.Find day care, when possible.

7. Find someone who will come to your home and give you short breaks.

8. Join a support group in your local area.

9.Find an online support group.

10. Look for something positive in this situation.  I look back at all I learned and how I came to love Mother in a different way, yet one that enriched my life.

Post from: Blisstree

10 Tips for Alzheimer’s Caregivers

As a caregiver, we need to learn to care for ourselves.

*Find time for yourself even if it’s just a walk around the neighborhood while hubby, a neighbor, sister, or children stay with Mom or Dad.  Perhaps it’s an afternoon with your quilting group or book discussion group.

*Find time for your family, exclusive of your parent. 

*Find daycare for your parent.  Inquire at the local hospital, nearby nursing home, or senior center if there is daycare available.  I found a local nursing home would take Alzheimer’s patients for a few hours.

*Find someone to come in to spend time with your parent.  My neighbor, who had cared for her elderly aunt, would bring her handiwork and sit with my mom while I went shopping, ran errands, or took that walk.

*Find a support group.  Here again, your local hospital, nursing home, or senior center usually knows of support group in the area.  If there is nothing, or you can’t get out to meet with them, find an online discussion group like Caring for Elderly Family Members (http://groups.msn.com/CaringforElderlyFamilyMembers/ ) 

Post from: Blisstree

5 Tips for Caregivers of Alzheimer’s Patients