Trusted Alzheimer’s Care in Waterloo,ON

Flexible Care Schedules for Seniors with Alzheimer’s

Not every senior with Alzheimer’s necessitates 24-hour live-in care. Whether your loved one is still able to live semi-independently or you plan to have a family caregiver share in the caregiving responsibilities, we offer flexible care schedules to accommodate your loved one’s and your family’s needs. Regardless of the level of care your senior loved one receives, as his or her condition progresses, we maintain open communication with both family and healthcare professionals to ensure changing care needs are met.

How Do We Help People with Alzheimer’s Disease?

At Home Care Assistance – Kitchener, Waterloo, and Guelph we completely understand how difficult and stressful it can be to try to take care of your elderly loved one with Alzheimer’s disease on your own. Even though you probably feel as if it’s your duty to take care of your loved one, there’s no shame in asking for a little bit of help once in a while and also taking care of your own health and well being. In fact, failing to do so could actually hinder and negatively affect your ability to provide sound, adequate, and useful care for your loved one. As a fully certified home care assistance association and one of the leading Alzheimer’s caregiver providers in Waterloo, Ontario, we can help fill in the gaps for you and provide you with the rest and respite you desperately need on either a part-time or full-time basis. There’s no reason why you should have to carry the entire weight of the world on your shoulders and allow other equally important aspects of your life such as personal commitments, your work, and other relationships to fall to the wayside. Additionally, there are countless useful advantages to hiring a reliable and proven live-in caregiver to help take care of your elderly loved one with Alzheimer’s disease including the following:

Your Loved One Gets to Continue Living at Home

By hiring a reliable and experienced live-in caregiver instead of forcing your loved one to relocate to one of the many Alzheimer’s long-term care facilities in Waterloo, you’re helping them retain their right to live in the comfort and security of their own personal living space, which is highly beneficial to their overall treatment. Being constantly surrounded by familiar faces, objects, and rooms can help your elderly loved one with Alzheimer’s maintain their dignity and be reminded of pleasant and familiar emotions and sensibilities, even if they don’t necessarily remember specific events associated with them.

Reinforces and Encourages Social Engagements and Interaction

Part-time or full-time professional caregivers are akin to having a constant and trusted close companion around at all times. They’re not just there to help your loved one with household chores such as cooking and cleaning (although, that’s a small part of the job description); they’re also there to engage your loved one in pleasant conversations and encourage them to participate in fun and mind stimulating social interactions, events, and activities that they might enjoy.

Provide Nutritious and Delicious Home-Cooked Meals

People who develop either early onset or late onset dementia or Alzheimer’s disease eventually forget how to care for themselves properly and revert back to requiring assistance with even the most basic skills, including cooking and cleaning up after themselves. As a result, they might cease to feed themselves or drink enough liquids and in the most severe cases, this can lead to extreme malnutrition. People who suffer through later stages of Alzheimer’s disease need constant, round-the-clock care to ensure that they’re eating healthy and nutritious meals. It’s best to establish a workable schedule to create a sense of familiarity for the Alzheimer’s patient.

Engage in Mind-Stimulating Activities

During your search for the perfect live-in caregiver for your loved one, try to conduct interviews in the patient’s home. This will help each potential candidate familiarize themselves with your loved one’s surroundings and gain a clear understanding of the person they were before the diagnosis as well as their likes and dislikes. It’ll also give you a clear indication of how this person will fit into your loved one’s life and whether or not they’re a good match. Once you choose a caregiver, you should provide them with a list of activities, movies, music, books and other sentimental items your loved one enjoys so that they can establish a personal relationship and encourage your loved one to engage in various mind-stimulating activities. Reading, doing puzzles, and watching movies are all excellent examples of favourite pastimes that can fend off boredom and apathy. More than anything, your loved one will appreciate and benefit from the social aspect of having someone around who enjoys spending time with them.

Maintain a Well-Crafted Routine

Alzheimer’s is a mentally degenerative disease and the further it progresses, the more stability and routine your loved one requires. A live-in caregiver can work closely with you to help you develop a feasible daily routine as well as a broader monthly schedule that you both can agree upon. This will range from daily activities such as meal times, regular exercises, and scheduling time for specific activities to scheduling doctor’s appointments, social engagements, and other events ahead of time so that everyone’s always on the same page. Creating a set routine will also prevent your loved one from being easily caught off guard, becoming agitated, or disoriented.

Provide Much-Needed Support for Family and Friends

There’s no getting around the fact that witnessing your loved one’s mental faculties slowly decline is emotionally, mentally, and physically draining. As much as you want to be able to help them in any way you can and dedicate all of your time to their care; sometimes, the best thing you can do to help them is to also help yourself and hire a professional caregiver to alleviate some of the stress, even if it’s only for a few days per week.

FAQ about Alzheimer’s Disease

Here are a few frequently asked questions that you might want to consider asking your loved one’s health care professional if you suspect they might be exhibiting signs of Alzheimer’s disease:

What are the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?

The signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include the following: prominent memory loss; forgetting how to do simple and familiar tasks; constant disorientation; problems with comprehending visual and spatial cues; difficulties with verbal and written language; constantly losing things; declined judgment skills; constant unexpected mood swings; and many more.

What are the different stages of Alzheimer’s disease?

There are four stages of Alzheimer’s disease that you should be aware of, especially if you suspect your loved one might be suffering from it:
Pre-Symptomatic: This occurs before an official diagnosis.

• Stage 1: Mild
• Stage 2: Moderate
• Stage 3: Severe

Is there a way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease?

Unfortunately, there are no conclusive scientific or medical preventative measures that can be taken in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease and it’s very difficult to determine wither a person is likely to develop the disease. The best thing you can do is to try to help your elderly loved one lead as healthy a lifestyle as possible by eating nutritious meals and exercising on a regular basis.

How long does early onset Alzheimer’s disease take to progress?

There’s no definitive length of time it takes for a person to develop severe Alzheimer’s disease. Every patient’s case is unique in its own right, which is why it’s extremely important to come up with a unique treatment plan that’s formulated especially for your loved one. Abstaining from enrolling them in one of the many Alzheimer’s care facilities in Waterloo and allowing them to continue living in the comfort of their own home is an excellent starting point in the treatment process.

Make Home Care Assistance of Waterloo
Your First Choice for Alzheimer’s Care

When you make Home Care Assistance of Waterloo your first choice, you can count on experienced and compassionate Alzheimer’s caregivers, Care Managers available day and night, and quality care in the comfort of home.  Learn more about the advantages of in-home care for seniors with Alzheimer’s by calling (519) 954-2111 today and schedule your free in-home consultation.