Dementia news for a loved one is life-altering, but how you support them can profoundly impact how they navigate that journey. Here are our quick tips to "Think Dementia".
#ThinkDementia is Home Instead’s campaign to raise awareness for dementia care. Today, we want to share five tips that can help you promote a happier and more independent outlook for your loved one.
Communication is a great way to engage those suffering from dementia, which can ease the sense of isolation anda loss of self. Here are some pointers to help you communicate, even on those “off” days:
There will be times during your journey together when you both feel a sense of friction. It’s a perfectly normal human reaction when two or more people live more closely together after living separately for some time. Mum will have her way of repotting the garden plants; Dad has his preferred routine for bath night—we all have a different approach. Friction occurs when you start butting heads.
Most of the time, choosing to do things their way helps you have the space and authority to institute new routines for the more critical aspects of their care, such as a routine for a new medication, introducing home care, or clinical treatment plans.
Research has been carried outinto the positive effects of mental activity in dementia prevention. What we do not know for sure is the effects of cognitive activity on those already with dementia. However, we have found here at Home Instead that clients who came to us with little mental stimulation have seen a significant benefit in outlook and well-being due to mentally stimulating activities, such as recall exercises or social home care visits.
Physical activity also benefits those with dementia by promoting task independence, psychological health, and often related memory function. Simple leg, arm, and chair exercises are great to start with and something our carers institute with the dementia clients we visit.
We have already talked about communication, but being social is much more than that. It’s about interaction on a human-to-human level, sometimes without saying a word. And yet, it can be the most overlooked aspect of dementia care.
Encourage activities that you can do together. They could be simple things, like folding the laundry or enjoying tea in the garden. You don’t always need to talk, but when you do, keep things light to encourage task focus.
Encourage activities your loved one can do to help them interact with people outside their home. At Home Instead, we take our clients to dementia cafes or daycare centres where they can meet people and interact. The difference this makes is a huge benefit to their independence and social sense of self.
Most of all, encourage just being together. Loneliness is debilitating. Engagement has a much more positive effect on independence and outlook.
Another way to help your loved one feel they have a sense of independence is to lean into assistive technology. Tools and gadgets to help Mum or Dad focus, remember and understand.
We wrote a long list ofnational assistive technology contacts for our Ascot, Camberley, and Wokingham Home Instead Hub, and many of those contact points will be helpful for you here in Farnham, Farnborough and Fleet.
To add to that list are those that might be useful in dementia care. Tools like:
Consider what, where and how you can use assistive technology to promote independence.