“Dementia care is my calling. My first job was as an activities director at a nursing home. I loved creating enrichment activities to bring out the joy and spirit in our residents. As an Aging Life Care™ Manager, I get to extend that even further to creating safe and cozy environments where people with dementia have no need to be anxious because their physical surroundings and the people who care for them are in sync with their abilities.”
—Melanie Oliver, MA, LNHA, LALA, CDCP, CCM
Are you caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s? Vascular dementia? Lewy body dementia? Some other form of cognitive impairment?
We understand!
It’s hard to take care of a person who repeats questions, shadows you, doesn’t want to change clothes or is in danger of wandering off. And that’s before some really difficult issues like combative behavior or not eating. Add to that the heartbreak of losing the person you remember, and it’s no surprise if you are feeling overwhelmed. You have a very difficult row to hoe! We are here to help.
Give us a call at 252-450-5731
Or schedule a free initial consultation
Assessment
We begin our process by assessing the client’s strengths, and those areas where they are having problems. This can be a formal assessment if you wish, with questionnaires and scoring. However, we find older adults do better thinking of us as a friend. (Adult children often introduce us as “a friend of theirs” and ask their parent to “visit” with us when we come by.) Over the course of a conversation, looking around the house, watching your loved one interact with us and with their environment, we can get a good sense of their stage of dementia and the types of support they need.
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Plan
Some families like to have a written report of our findings and recommendations. Others prefer a family meeting on zoom. Or to talk in person. We are happy to accommodate whatever format you wish. The focus of the plan is to provide options for those areas that need support due to the stage of dementia and the cognitive impairment involved.
Support can come in many forms. For instance:
- Nutritional support: It may be that your loved one is having trouble getting organized about food and food preparation. We might suggest engaging Meals on Wheels to come deliver one meal a day. Or we might suggest home delivery of tasty meals from some of the many food services that cater to specialized diets (diabetic, low fat, no salt…). Or we could arrange for at home caregivers to come and help with shopping to provide for socialization and an outing as well as meal preparation.
- Bill paying support: If mail is going unopened and there is a risk of utilities being shut off, we might suggest automated payments from the bank account. Or redirecting mail to a nearby relative. Or that a member of our staff come by regularly to sort through the bills, prepare checks for signature, and then mail them off.
- Medical emergencies: We can help you assemble all of the paperwork needed if your loved one has to go to the Emergency Department. You can contract with us to be on call, 24/7 so your relative will have an advocate available in emergencies—someone that knows them, their medical history, their current medications and doctors. With this service, we have your phone number so we can contact you and keep you up to date even if you live far away.
- Senior transportation options: Perhaps your loved one has spatial and perceptual problems that may mean driving is unsafe. We can work with an occupational therapist to do a formal driving assessment and make recommendations. If the problem is an urgent safety hazard, we can work with the Department of Motor Vehicles to have a license revoked. We also arrange for paratransit options through local bus services. It could be the local senior center has a volunteer driver program, or parishioners at church may have developed a program so your relative can get a ride to worship. There are many possibilities.
- Disaster preparedness: We put together a disaster preparedness plan so your family knows where your loved one will be and who is designated to look after them in case of a hurricane, for instance, or fire. We’ll assemble a go-bag with clothes, medications, copies of insurance cards, contact numbers, etc.
Depending on your loved one’s need for support, we draw on our deep knowledge of the elder care network and recommend only the best home care, or the best meal service that will fit into your budget. At Senior Solutions, we strive for solutions that provide as much dignity and independence for our clients as is safely and affordably possible.
If it appears that your loved really cannot safely age in place, we will work with you to find the best memory care, or best assisted living based on your relative’s abilities and your family’s budget. We can walk with you through the whole process, from selecting a community to downsizing, moving and supporting a smooth emotional transition.
In situations where an older adult with dementia needs to move closer to someone in your family, even out of state, we can help arrange for that type of relocation as well.
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Flexibility to meet your needs
Our solutions are designed to give you options.
It may be that you just need some help knowing where to turn, or who to hire.
Or, you may live far away, or be a midcareer professional, or still have children at home and just can’t do it all. No problem! You can hire us to implement the plan and provide on-going support. We keep you updated regularly so you will know how your loved one is doing and when there are changes—because with elder care, there are always changes! It’s just a natural part of aging.
Need help processing it all? We’re here for you as the family caregiver, too. It’s emotionally difficult to juggle all that needs to be addressed when a loved one has dementia. From caregiver support groups to educational resources and recommendations for respite care, we can provide you with the tools you need to reduce caregiver stress and make your life significantly easier.
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