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Published On: Thu, Aug 2nd, 2018

Living With Dementia? Live-in Care Can Help

Find out how dementia sufferers can benefit from care in the home, and how it helps to provide the entire family with peace of mind.

John Forbes Nash Jr photo/ Peter Badge

The dementia charity Alzheimers.org has stated that there are almost 1million people suffering from dementia in the UK alone. That is a disturbingly high proportion of the population and the disease is understandably a concern for many seniors. But it is important to recognise that many dementia sufferers can still have a good quality of life if they can be cared for in a way that promotes quality of life. Sadly, too often, families are encouraged to think the only option for a family member is to move into a residential care home. Yet, in residential care homes there are not the familiar surroundings of home nor do carers working there have the time to dedicate to social interaction with the clients and patients.

Social interaction has been shown to be vital for people with dementia  so familiar surroundings and someone familiar to talk to every day is paramount for life quality. Neither of these are provided in a residential care home because carers work different days, hours ans shifts so a person with dementia is unlikely to see the same caregiver every day.

The Effects Of Dementia

Dementia is an umbrella term for a number of different conditions of the brain that prevent it from functioning in the normal way.  The symptoms can be very different from one person to the next. Many people assume that someone with dementia will cease to recognise family members but this is not always the case depending on the type of dementia diagnosed.  However, there are common traits to all types of dementia: it usually affects people who are aged 55 or more (although early onset dementia does occur in people much younger).

The most common symptoms are memory loss, problems with speech, mood swings and disorientation but some people also experience hallucinations. Another aspect of dementia is being unable to perform everyday tasks such as preparing a meal or making a cup of coffee. Dementia affects everybody differently so both treatment and care should be individually determined for each patient.

How Live-in Care Can Help People With Dementia

The Live In Care Hub  produced a recent report which includes research relating to various care topics, including dementia and dementia care. The report describes how dementia is now the greatest concern for the majority of older people  surprisingly even more of a concern than cancer. The report also revealed that loneliness is a significant determining factor as to whether or not a person develops Alzheimer’s, which is the most common type of dementia.

Lonely people are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s than somebody who has an active social life and plenty of interaction with other people. So, with live in care, just the regular companionship alone could help prevent a person developing dementia in the first place.

For people who have already been diagnosed, the companionship of a live-in carer or one who visits on a daily basis can help slow down the development of the disease, and provide a better quality of life for the client.

Of course, there is more to caregiving than companionship and a live in carer will provide personal care, cooking, cleaning and other day-today tasks to help the client continue to live securely and comfortably in their own home along with their partner and any pets. It avoids the upheaval, and in some cases trauma, of moving into a residential care home.

Author: Anna Preston

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