What Makes An Effective Dementia Care? 3 Fundamentals

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Discovery Commons at South Biscayne

Posted on

Dec 12, 2022

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Florida - Sarasota, Bradenton & Charlotte Counties

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Retirement may be a very emotional experience for most. However, it may seem particularly intense for a loved one with dementia. Here are 3 Fundamentals on what makes effective dementia care. 

Comfortable Apparel and Specialized Clothing

If your parent who moves into dementia care has a vast wardrobe, it might be hard to pick out clothes for packing. Begin by selecting clothes that they often wear at home and at night. They are likely to wear clothes they often wear and feel comfortable in. Also, if your parent struggles to dress up independently, try buying clothing for older adults with dementia to make dressing easier.

Décor That Creates Nostalgic Living Spaces

Most contemporary dementia care communities use personalized designs to decorate living spaces. Such design factors how interior surroundings may positively help older adults with Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia. Also, close kin may help ground their aged parent by packing objects that personalize the memory care spaces. 

Ask your aged parent if certain belongings may familiarize spaces to orient your packing choices. For instance, furnish and decorate the living space before older adults move in to make it feel like home. Our retirement communities from Discovery Commons South Biscayne usually apply various therapies to assist older adults suffering from symptoms of dementia. These include aromatherapy, music therapy, painting therapy, or recall medicine. 

The close kin may assist their parent by packing objects that supplement memory care therapy. Planning a memory care packing list starts with picking things that help your parent feel at home. Creating a sense of home may mean packing belongings that invoke nostalgic sensations, like an old pillow. 

Alternatively, this may mean packing some belongings and evoking emotional comforts, like old photo albums. Bear old memories in mind as you load the belongings. You might locate many boxes of photos when packing. Get online services to digitize the images. Alternatively, if you opt to shift hard copies of pictures to a close kin’s home instead of digitizing, try to put old photos into a scrapbook for your parent to use for memory therapy.

Pursuit of Personal Hobbies

Shifting into assisted living apartments does not imply that your parent with dementia must cease all activities they pursued from home. For instance, research recommends persisting with hobbies like arts and crafts to slow down the onset of memory issues, according to a study published in neurology. 

While memory care communities provide interactive opportunities for residents, families may pack belongings for their parents to keep occupied with over other times in the day. These may help parents develop better sleep habits by replacing naps with fun games. 

Things to Include in Personal Care Apartment Preparations

To decide what to bring to dementia care, the challenges you are facing as the close kin of a parent with dementia demand a distinct kind of challenge. Memory care communities in Discovery Commons South Biscayne provide special events and therapies you do not find with independent living or assisted living.

Hence, deciding what to bring to memory care by anticipating your parent’s personal needs when making your memory care packing list is necessary. You would have to talk with the community’s care manager about personal belongings that may complement memory-related games and therapy — such might require music records or old photos. 

Beyond this, daily belongings like comfortable apparel and old images may help your parent to create a new, warm, homelike space. Every day belongings like old clothing and photos may allow your parent to make a generous, homelike space.

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