When a loved one begins experiencing symptoms of dementia or Alzheimer’s, it can be a harrowing experience for your family. It’s an even worse situation when that loved one is a parent. Whether one or both of your parents is dealing with these symptoms, it can be stressful and emotionally draining to decide what the right course of action is that’ll do the best job of meeting their needs and giving them as high of a quality of life as possible.
There is no singular correct path forward, as the right solution will depend on what kind of care your parents respond best to and what level of help they’re going to need in the coming months and years. The only thing that’s certain is that they’ll need access to medical help specialized for the problems they’re suffering from, in addition to extra assistance with the parts of their day-to-day lives that have become difficult.
Memory care services are one option for getting your parents the help they need to cope with their symptoms while maintaining their quality of life as much as possible. In this blog post, you’ll learn more about these services, how to identify when your parents may need them, and how to find the right care provider for them.
Memory care is a type of long-term care service for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia. It provides structure and a set of clear routines for patients to follow to reduce the mental stresses of keeping up with necessary tasks for day-to-day living.
It’s a similar service to what you might typically expect from an assisted living setting, but in this case, staff members are directly responsible for maintaining a patient’s schedule and handling special considerations that may arise as a result of their disease.
These services are often provided in an assisted living facility or other type of long-term care setting like a retirement community or a nursing home. Facilities that offer memory care are designed to account for dementia patients’ tendency to wander, featuring barriers and alarms that prevent them from wandering into dangerous areas and allowing staff members to quickly find and attend to them.
Once one or both of your parents have been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s, it may be unclear what exactly you should do next. If your parents have already been receiving help at home from a medical professional and maintaining a comfortable quality of life, it may be best to monitor them until they’ve reached a point where this arrangement is no longer sufficient for meeting their needs.
How will you know when home care is no longer enough for your parents? A home aide may not be available to tend to your parents’ needs at any hour of day or night. If they’ve developed dangerous habits or tendencies as a result of their symptoms, it isn’t safe for them to remain unmonitored at home any longer. A team of professional medical staff specialized in caring for patients with their symptoms can do the best job of giving them as comfortable of a life as possible at this stage.
Once you’ve decided to get your parents into memory care, you should choose a facility for them based on:
Additionally, you’ll need to consider how to go about the process of moving them to a memory care setting. Follow the following steps:
If you’re looking for Scottsdale memory care services, Sage Medical may be the right choice for you. Contact us now with any questions about our facilities, programs, and care services.
