Alzheimer's and Dementia

Easing the Transition to an Assisted Living for Alzheimer’s Patients

Image by BoryaFor families with an aging parent or a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, the transition to ...

For families with an aging parent or a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, the transition to nursing home care can be very challenging. Here are some tips to ease the burden of the move for all concerned:

  1. Keeping due diligence. Take time in researching different nursing homes. A key factor when doing your research is whether they have a dementia care unit with staff that specialize in handling people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Another important factor is the location – do not move your loved ones to a nursing home too far from you and your family members.
  2. Understanding your loved one’s emotions. Your loved ones may be apprehensive and not appreciative of the move for many reasons: the familiarity of their surroundings will be replaced with new ones and getting used to a different environment may be difficult for them. Dementia patients in particular might struggle with this.
  3. Share your input and inform the nursing home staff of your loved one’s personal needs, medical condition, behavioural patterns, likes or dislikes and temperament. That way, it will be easier for the staff to care for them and tailor their treatment.
  4. Discuss the plan with your loved ones. This allows them to voice their concerns well in advance of the move. Be patient and understanding because they may be reluctant at first. Put yourself in their shoes and reassure them.
  5. Prepare their room and set it up with all their favourite and familiar items to make them feel at home. For dementia patients, being in a place that looks and feels familiar will help ease the transition and relax them.
  6. On the day of the move, make sure you are there by their side to make them feel better. It might be best if you stay the whole day there and have dinner with them until it is time to go. Before you do leave the facility, remind them again why they had to be there and why you have to leave.
  7. Visit often and share visits with family members if you can. Seeing a familiar face in a new environment can ease the anxiety that they will naturally feel.
If you plan on moving your aging loved ones to a nursing home, make sure that you discuss it at length with them. Always make sure that you’re there for them to reassure them every step of the way.
– Jesse Waugh is a veteran writer with over 8 years of writing and proofreading experience. As one of Authority Specialists’ expert content writers, Jesse has a solid understanding of content marketing and can deliver high-quality, targeted contents for any topics or niche of interest. Jesse Waugh writes for Daughterly Care – Daughterly Care is one of the leading privately owned agencies offering Homecare in NSW, which includes residential respite care.

– See more at: https://seniorcare2017.wpengine.com/blog_information/14-03-20/Easing_the_Transition_to_an_Assisted_Living_for_Alzheimer%e2%80%99s_Patients.aspx#sthash.4YKMCzyo.dpuf