outdoor areaBecause Alzheimer’s disease progresses slowly, it’s hard to tell when your loved one needs to move. Alzheimer’s progresses slowly, so even if your gut tells you it’s getting worse, your mind and heart may disagree.

Adding guilt and emotion to the decision to place a loved one in memory care makes it even more difficult. Know? Dementia patients and their caregivers can get free help finding memory care communities that meet their needs.

If you are considering memory care in Rome, have a look at these considerations first:

When They Can’t Stay Safe At Home

A decline in overall health for a dementia patient is a major red flag. Weight loss, hunched posture, and bruises. Difficulty standing and walking without assistance can cause falls and broken bones, which are common in Alzheimer’s patients.

On the other hand, prolonged sitting is another dementia-related unhealthy behaviour. Wandering and getting lost are serious and dangerous behaviours that can be mediated by technology. Memory care communities can help people at both ends of the behavioural spectrum. Routine can help calm active patients, prevent wandering (or allow for structured wandering).

Inactive people can be inspired to become more active by others or by social interaction. Staff are trained to encourage dementia patients to socialise, participate, move, and even go outside. Without this at home, your loved one may deteriorate faster. Memory care in Rome can help when you feel as though your loved ones are unsafe at home.

Excessive Caregiver Stress

In addition to managing your own life, caring for someone with dementia is difficult. The list goes on. Stress is unavoidable as the disease progresses and causes loss of communication and uncontrollable behaviour.

Even if you think you’re hiding your stress from your partner, you’re actually expressing it subtly, which leads to issues like acting out. If caregiving has become stressful enough to affect your happiness (watch for insomnia), consider memory care.

Inability To Maintain A Healthy Living Environment

If one parent has dementia, perhaps the other parent is being a caring spouse. Family members feel enormous pressure to keep someone home. I adore him. But caregiver fatigue affects everyone. Pay attention to signs like unpaid bills, a messy house, hoarding, bad food, and general messiness (like dishes piling up in the sink, or trash not going out).

Note the dementia patient’s hygiene. Assisting with bathing, brushing teeth, and nail clipping fall on the caregiver, and a caregiver struggling to cope will start letting things slip. These are signs that you need to move.

Isolation From Social Life

As dementia progresses, people become less social. Alzheimer’s causes a person to withdraw mentally, and living alone at home is easier even if others are present. Confusion, reduced stimulation, and withdrawal can become self-reinforcing as the disease progresses.

Social interaction is important because social isolation worsens symptoms. Memory care in Rome promotes socialization.

When The Primary Caregiver Isn’t The Best

This one is tough. A loving and caring spouse may not be able to care for a loved one with dementia. Like caring for a young child, dementia caregiving can be frustrating and tedious. The child will outgrow their challenging behaviour, whereas someone with dementia will likely become more challenging.

A conversation with their parent and siblings can be difficult when the adult child realises their parent is unable to care for their spouse. In most cases, memory care is a better option than avoiding or denying this difficult situation.

You Have A Gut Feeling

Again, moving a loved one out of a home they may have lived in for years or decades can be difficult. But we can sense when something is wrong, and that nagging intuition is not to be dismissed. Listen to your gut if you think it’s time. Making difficult life changes is not a sin. Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias can be managed if caregivers make smart decisions, like moving to memory care.

If you are considering Memory Care in Rome for your loved one, get in touch today.

Get Memory Care in Rome Today

Please call today and schedule to come and take a tour. We want you to make an informed decision regarding the care and comfort of your loved one. After all, that is what The Terrace at Newark is all about.

We are family owned and operated… so that our focus has always been and will continue to be “Family first and the rest will follow”. We know that the better we treat our staff, the better our staff will treat our residents. All staff is directed by a set of thoughtful policy guidelines that are fair, consistent and serve to develop an exceptional ALP & workforce team!

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Reach out today to learn more.