Dementia Care at Home: A Guide to Supporting Loved Ones in Familiar Surroundings
If you have a loved one who has been diagnosed with dementia, you will no doubt have a hundred questions about the future. One of the big questions is often “Is it possible to provide dementia care at home?”. The good news is that the answer is yes. In fact, with meticulous planning and the necessary resources, home-based dementia care can be a viable, comforting, and effective option.
What Does Home-Based Dementia Care Involve?
Dementia home care entails providing a supportive environment and tailored care for a dementia patient within their own residence. This care ranges from basic companionship and assistance with routine tasks to more specialised medical attention, and the level and type of care you need will depend on the stage of dementia and the personal requirements of your loved one.
We work with our clients to come up with a care plan that will offer those with dementia the right level of care for them at that moment – with a deep understanding that these requirements can change quite quickly. We ensure that we monitor progress of care carefully and do everything to accommodate our clients with additional support when it’s needed or as things change.
What Services does Home-based Dementia Care provide?
Below is an overview of the type of care that is commonly given at home for dementia patients, although the level of care differs greatly from client to client:
- Support with Daily Living Activities: we provide assistance with basic tasks such as eating, bathing, dressing, and using the toilet, while ensuring the continued dignity and comfort of our clients.
- Medication Management: This includes the administration of prescribed medication, ensuring it is taken correctly and punctually.
- Emotional Support: Our Carers offers emotional support and companionship, providing a sense of security and alleviating feelings of loneliness or anxiety.
- Cognitive Stimulation: We engage our clients in mind-stimulating activities such as puzzles, reading, and music can help maintain cognitive function.
- Safety Supervision: We constantly monitor the situation, providing a safe environment and peace of mind for the family.
What do You Need to Consider if your Choose Home Based Dementia care?
Adapting your home to accommodate the needs of a person with dementia is a critical factor in successful home care. In order to help our clients, we often discuss practical considerations before we begin our home visits or live-in care.
Here are some of the things we suggest you consider in order to support your loved-one at home:
- Safety: You will need to implement safety measures such as installing safety locks on doors and windows, removing potential tripping hazards, and enhancing lighting, especially at night
- Accessibility: If your loved one’s movement is limited, you may want to consider installing ramps, bathroom grab bars, or a stairlift.
- Comfort: The ideal is to create a serene, comfortable environment. It helps to make sure that everything your loved ones most commonly uses is in an obvious and visible place, and labelling may really help them to keep track of things.
When it comes to Dementia Care, which is best, Home Care or a Care Home?
This is often one of the biggest choices family members have to make with their loved ones. To some degree the question of which is better can just come down to what your loved one feels they will prefer – personalised care at home, or a busier, more social environment.
However, there are some clear advantages to providing care for those with dementia within the comfort of their own home.
The continuity and familiarity of staying in their home environment can be really important to many dementia patients. Being at home among their own favourite possessions, photos and furniture can be extremely reassuring. We have found with many of our clients that they find it much easier to navigate their own home environment than anywhere else and that they take great comfort from the recognition of familiar objects.
With our Home Care we also do everything we can to ensure the consistency of our Carers – providing the same carer, carefully matched to our clients, for as much of the time as possible. This can really help our clients with dementia, since a familiar face and voice, and someone who really knows what they like and need, can make the world of difference.
Another advantage of dementia care provided at home is that in addition to allowing for truly personalised care, home care is also very flexible. We often change the care package we deliver for our clients over a period of time – perhaps starting with a few hours a week and moving to more support or even live-in care when it’s needed.
Home-based dementia care is not only possible but can offer numerous benefits when properly planned and implemented. Open discussions with healthcare professionals, family members, and caregivers can help make the best decisions for your loved one’s care. With the right adjustments and support, home can be a soothing and nurturing environment for those living with dementia.
We’re here to help with safe, compassionate support with Dementia Home Care in Stevenage and Harlow. If you are looking for Dementia support in Essex or Hertfordshire please do contact us anytime by calling 01279 437 923 (24 HRS), emailing operations@blossomhealthcare.solutions, or just fill in our contact form and we’ll get back to you within 48 hours.