Providing care for a senior loved one with dementia can be complex in the best of scenarios; mix in a worldwide pandemic, social distancing, personal protective equipment (PPE), and careful sanitation and hygiene, and the challenge of Alzheimer’s care might seem insurmountable.
Stay Home Care’s dementia care team offers the following guidelines to help reduce anxiousness and frustration for seniors with Alzheimer’s while keeping both them and their caregivers safe:
- Be sure to make self-care a priority. Now more than ever before, it’s crucial that you gauge your own amount of stress, and fashion a plan to make certain you are healthy – both emotionally and physically. You can only give the best help for a senior loved one if your own needs are met. This may mean limiting time spent monitoring the news as well as on social media, maintaining connections with friends and family, and making time for pleasant, enjoyable hobbies.
- Focus on personal cleanliness. Correct handwashing techniques are crucial for everybody but can be tricky for anyone with Alzheimer’s to manage. Depending on the person’s stage of the disease, it could be beneficial to wash your hands alongside one another, demonstrating for your loved one; or, put signs near the sink in the bathroom and kitchen with a message to scrub for 20 seconds. Keep in mind that repetition, a common behavior in Alzheimer’s, may work to your advantage in this case.
- Consider your words very carefully. When speaking with a parent about changes relevant to COVID-19, it is important to provide straight forward information, utilizing a calm and reassuring tone. Beth Kallmyer, Vice President of Care and Support at the Alzheimer’s Association, suggests statements such as, “We have to stay inside because that’s most safe for us, but we’ll do it together. I’ll be with you and we’ll be okay.”
- Have a backup plan. In the event that you happened to be diagnosed with COVID-19,, or any other medical problem that would prevent you from safely providing home care help for a loved one with dementia, it is critical to have a strategy in place for who could help step in to fulfill your caregiving responsibilities. A professional home care agency, like Stay Home Care, is the ideal choice for Alzheimer’s care in Brentwood and the surrounding area, with professional Alzheimer’s caregivers who are experienced in this specialized type of care.
Let Stay Home Care help you. Our highly skilled Alzheimer’s caregivers are fully trained and experienced in both following proper protocol linked to minimizing the risk for contracting coronavirus, and in the specialized type of care that is most effective for people with Alzheimer’s. Reach out to us at 615-964-7726 for a consultation or to learn more about our top-rated dementia care in Brentwood and the communities we serve.