How does a memory care or memory support community help people who have dementia?
The malady of our times, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia consume a large portion of the specialized care needed by older adults. As many as six million Americans over the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s; many more have dementia in its various forms, such as dementia with Lewy bodies, Frontotemporal dementia, Vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease dementia and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Dementia manifests in a loss of critical abilities, jeopardizing a person’s safety and well-being. Reasoning and judgment, finding the right words, getting lost, becoming confused — all these symptoms can begin gradually and worsen over time. Families often realize that the increasing demands for watchful care will overwhelm their caregiving resources.
So, how can a Memory Support community help? With the right program, setting and people.
A specialized program for every resident.
Each resident becomes well and fully known to the caregiving team — and families and friends contribute their knowledge of the person to the resident profile. Family history, life experience, medical issues, unique preferences — they’re all part of the plan the Memory Support community builds around the individual, ensuring that every care touchpoint can be precisely personalized.
To each resident relationship, the community also brings the benefits of ongoing research into dementia in all its forms, including new medication options and behavior management techniques. People in Memory Support communities grow and change, and their plans for care grow and change with them.
A comfortable, safe setting.
Clear sightlines, easily navigable floor plans and locked exterior doors make it easier for team members to watch over residents and make sure no one wanders away. Homelike design and familiar objects — residents often bring furniture items or memorabilia into their residences — help create calm.
Outdoor areas — which provide needed fresh air and sun — will have secure, controlled access. And where there are gardens, plantings are nonpoisonous.
Caregivers with know-how.
It’s sometimes noted that Memory Support caregivers have a knack for it. Patient, calm, brave, devoted, knowledgeable — they seem to know exactly what to do for the resident they’re watching. They act swiftly and confidently.
Highly trained, with their training ongoing, Memory Support caregivers understand their crucial companionship role. It’s through their ability to grow a relationship with a resident that the personalized care becomes so significantly helpful.
The right program, setting and people.
With an individualized and sophisticated program; within a specially designed and carefully managed setting; and through the exceptional, gifted efforts of caregivers who become friends and know what to do — this is how a Memory Support community helps each resident every day.