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Superior Alzheimer's Care - Streamlining the Search Process By Jill Gilbert |
| Thursday, March 5, 2009 |
Unfortunately, sub-par Alzheimer's care and assisted living facilities with less than an attentive staff that exist, and unless you know what you're looking for, it's easy to choose one that, ultimately, not to satisfy their needs of quality care and supervision.
If you understand the process enough to know what you're looking for, however, the choice of a care center for Alzheimer's disease may be much easier. My job is to make your selection process simple - you take a look at the many highlights and features of higher-care facilities throughout the country and into the heart of things in order to help find Alzheimer's disease care and assisted living facilities that provide the kind of attention the needs of your loved one.
Apart from the main titles to look for - a meal plan, housekeeping, transportation, staff training, and comprehensive security and safety measures - must also be prepared to assess Alzheimer's care and living facilities assisted on the basis of hygiene, food, decorating, and uptime, four characteristics that, if well implemented, often reflect the level of care that is provided at the facility. While I fully understand the challenges faced in trying to find a quality, does not feel overwhelmed - you will be better prepared to ask questions about the care and find the perfect place for your aging parent or loved one with time. Let the following salient features of Alzheimer's sole care and assisted living facilities throughout the country, your guide to finding the best treatment and care of your loved one.
Hygiene: Because bath is carried out by facility personnel, cleaning is both monitored and controlled daily. A good installation should work with a resident of the existing bathroom for him or her feel more comfortable. If, in its passage through the facility, residents are ill-prepared, which should be a very good indicator of the level of care that residents are receiving.
Slips and falls can be common bathrooms located in a residence hall staff, the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging, for example, created a bathing area for residents of the rooms to avoid these types of accidents. Alzheimer's care and / or assisted living facilities in Connecticut, for example, must provide a separate apartment with a bathroom, as well as assistance with bathing (1). Although a plan of care was created by the staff of your loved one on arrival, you should discuss with the manager of the installation of the hygiene issues of how they operate, the existence of bars and other safety equipment in areas bathing, and the frequency of the residents are supervised throughout the day.
Diet: Eating well for the residents is often cited problem in Alzheimer's care and assisted living facilities. Although a plant may serve for three square meals a day, if food is not of high enough quality (or quantity) residents to lose weight.
To encourage residents to eat, Forest Assisted Living of Hallowell residential kitchen offers a kitchen with supervised activities for Alzheimer's patients (2). Similarly, Potomac Homes in Ramsey, New Jersey NutriCare has created a feeding program with the changes caused by Alzheimer's disease in the high diet, including reduction in the frequency ignore both taste and smell. The current composition of a diet high in Alzheimer's disease should be about 55 - 60% carbohydrates, 12-15% protein and 25-30% fat (3). Substantial snacks, 'comfort' food, and a variety of drinks should always be available to residents on a permanent basis.
What must be noted, however, is that Alzheimer's care of patients have difficulty distinguishing food from a plate, and either food or the dish has to be sufficient to prevent color mixing things together . When touring the facility, be sure to visit the dining room to get an idea of how residents are housed in the meals and ensure that the plates are in color and the food is easily distinguishable.
Decoration: The design of a chamber plays an important role in the selection of the Alzheimer's care and assisted living facilities. Bad carpet pattern has led some to believe that Alzheimer's patients from hundreds of bugs were crawling along the floor. The Wilsonville in Wilsonville, Oregon, emphasizing the feeling of home with unique architecture and interiors that are designed to evoke the atmosphere of a house or a hotel that residents have visited at one point in their lives, including the installation has with a beautiful old craftsman-style decor (4). Bright, warm lighting is recommended, and dramatic or busy carpeting, curtains, upholstery and other must be avoided.
Residents of the rooms should be able to be easily identified, either by a plate or illustrations. Barton in the House of Texas, for example, installs a small cabinet of curiosities of all residents outside of the door that can be filled with personal items to help quickly identify your room. The colors of the room and bathroom also match the doors for residents to know that her own personal space (5).
Activities: fragrances and music therapy has been shown to get positive responses from Alzheimer's and dementia patients. Asking residents to identify certain odors or sing along with the old songs are great ways to get residents cognitive juices flowing. Puzzles, games, gardening, reading, sorting, and organization are also the types of activities that you should seek to visit care facilities for Alzheimer's disease.
Small group activities are very important as large groups of not only the way they should. It is vital to do a session of activity to get an idea of how the caregivers interact with the residents in these groups and sometimes one-on-one activity. And, of course, plus the best care - be sure to consider the ratio of caregivers to residents because it allows more time for interaction with your loved one.
Many care facilities for Alzheimer's disease now have what I call a 'Memory Lane'. Antiques, furniture, clothing, dolls and placed around a room with other memories of a past time to help residents continue its memory-jogging exercises. The only problem is that most of these communities do not fully utilize these areas highly effective retrospectively. It is important that caregivers residents participate in these small corners of memory in order to be practical, so take note if it is being properly used.
Final Thoughts: The residents of care facilities for Alzheimer's disease need a program that is very consistent as activities at a whim or when changes in eating or bathing can trigger attacks of anxiety or confusion. Care of Alzheimer's residents in assisted living facilities are superior to well-planned and structured their lives around the clock attention. If the installation does not insist on these initial requirements for the care of Alzheimer's disease, my suggestion is to thank the director of his time and start hitting the pavement once again. Attentive, thorough investigation of the facility and the characteristics of your loved one to ensure that the needs to find a care center for Alzheimer's disease to be as committed as we are the level of care that manages. Remember - if it is a concern for you, speak! You'll learn more that way.
Sources
1. cga.ct.gov/2004/rpt/2004-R-0664.htm
2. woodlandsofhallowell.com / # alzheimerscare.html features
3. potomacgrouphomes.com / program_nutricare.html
4. thewilsonville.com /
5. uncommoncare.com / services / facilities.html
Jill Gilbert is chairman and CEO of Gilbert Guide, a website to help seniors and their loved ones find a care provider of high-level, together with extensive tools and resources to meet the challenges of aging. She is the author of "Leading by Example," a monthly column at McKnight's Long Term Care News, head of the publishing industry's long-term care providers. Jill has been interviewed by a CBS News special, was a key presenter at the Pennsylvania Assisted Living Association annual conference, and was recently interviewed in San Francisco TalkBack. Gilbert Guide was founded on the notion that quality matters, and its main purpose is to educate consumers on a variety of care issues higher. Visit http://www.GilbertGuide.com a provider of database, expert advice, quality assessment and tools that help consumers make their own 'experts' evaluations of suppliers. |
posted by neptunus @ 5:46 PM  |
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