Moving to a Senior Living Facility with Dementia

It’s relatively easy to find perfect residential long-term care for most seniors. There are so many different types of senior services and senior living arrangements! With all the offerings, there is something for everyone. However, it is not always straightforward when your loved one has some form of dementia.

It can be hard to tell whether the care in any senior living home is going to match up well with the progressive nature of dementia. There are a lot of factors that go into selecting a senior living home for a dementia patient. And even if you are able to get it right today, you need to know that the fit will last.

Tips for choosing the right senior living home for a senior with dementia:

Safety Precautions and Devices

Visit the facility and find out what safety precautions and devices the facility has in place. An ideal facility should have non-slip flooring, adequate lighting, grab bars, and monitoring systems. Also look at window doors and window locks. Does someone check residents in and out when they leave? Did they design their security with dementia in mind?

Dementia Trained Staff

The staff should have adequate training on how to handle seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and any other types of dementia. The facility should have attentive, compassionate and attentive staff.

Look at Special Memory Care Programs

There are a few memory-care or dementia-care facilities and programs across the country. There may not be one in your area, but you don’t know until you look for it. Search online, but also ask around. These programs can go by many names, including “memory care” and “special care”. Staff there will understand the difficult behaviors that may arise and how to diffuse them, they know how to communicate with their residents, and they are trained to recognize the subtle signs that can indicate changes in a resident’s mental and/or physical health.

A Structured Routine

There should be a structured routine for seniors living within the facility. Although this won’t affect dementia directly, it can reduce any overall stress by creating stability. Reducing any additional insecurity about what’s going on around a senior with dementia is helpful.

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Originally published at https://healthaiminc.com on April 24, 2019.

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