Over 5 million men and women have Alzheimer’s. Every situation is different, so it’s hard to know exactly what your dad will experience. Some people with Alzheimer’s disease progress quickly and only survive for an average of 8 years to 10. Others live up to 20 years after the initial diagnosis.
How do you know when it’s time to arrange elderly care services? As money is an issue, you don’t want to hire caregivers too soon and have your dad run out of money. If there’s a chance he’ll live for 20 years, how are you supposed to know when it’s time for home care? There’s no right or wrong answer. You have to trust your judgment.
Talk to His Memory Care Doctor
Make sure your dad is seeing a memory care doctor. The doctor administers memory tests that help track the decline. MRIs of the brain also show the level of deterioration. That can help get an idea of how fast the disease is progressing.
Ask the doctor for advice on what help your dad will need in the next weeks and months. The doctor will have great insight into where he is and what happens next.
Monitor His Abilities
You’ll be looking for little clues like your dad putting on a t-shirt on a cold day or wearing a heavy sweater in hot, humid weather. Those can indicate he’s having a hard time with dressing.
If he cooks a meal and forgets it’s cooking, there’s a fire risk that you cannot ignore. You need to start turning off power or gas to the burners and oven. Someone needs to cook for him. Not only could he start a fire, but he might undercook items and risk food poisoning.
You take your dad out shopping. When you return, he tells you this isn’t his home. When he doesn’t recognize his house, he’s at risk of wandering. You don’t want him leaving the house for a walk and getting lost.
Pay Attention When You’re With Him
Most families start by providing care on their own. Helping with meals, housework, laundry, and transportation is arranged to balance work and personal lives. As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, your dad may start to wander. Once that happens, he needs around-the-clock supervision, that’s a good time to start thinking about elderly care.
Ask an elderly care agency for advice. The experts can help you figure the right balance of caregivers and care provided by family members. The team effort will make a difference when it comes to making sure your dad has the care he needs while also staying within his budget.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Homecare in Mountainside, NJ, call the caring staff at Helping Hands Home Care today at 908-418-4299.
Providing Home Care Services in all of Northern and Central NJ, including Clark, Westfield, Cranford, Scotch Plains, Rahway, Linden, Summit, Edison, Elizabeth, Mountainside, and the surrounding areas.
Sources:
https://www.alz.org/
After graduating from Seton Hall University with a BS in finance Helping Hands Homecare’s Owner / President, Robert D’Arienzo, went to work on Wall St. for six years. However, after Robert’s grandmother became ill with stomach cancer Robert and his family needed to find assistance in the home for her. After many trials and tribulations Robert could see that there was a great need for quality home care services here in NJ and loved the idea of being able to assist other families who were going through what his family went through with his beloved grandmother.
Thus, Robert had found his passion. After almost a year of preparation Robert opened Helping Hands Homecare in 2003. Robert wanted Helping Hands Homecare to focus on providing the highest quality of caregivers, exceptional customer service, and providing a service that familys could depend on in their time of need. Since then Helping Hands has assisted hundreds of individuals with the simplest of needs to more complex cases while preserving those standards set out many years ago.
Robert is a Google Verified Author
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