40 / 76
Spotlight on
“SeniorS”
www.theconnectionsnj.comPAGE 40
^ƵƌĞ LJŽƵ͛ƌĞ ƚŽƵŐŚ͊ Ƶƚ ĞǀĞƌLJŽŶĞ ŶĞĞĚƐ Ă ŚĂŶĚ ŶŽǁ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞŶ͘ • Safety Supervision • Dementia Care M l P i • Bathing Assistance • Med Reminders T i 908-927-0500 Somerset Co & Middlesex Co Licensed, Bonded & Insured ǁǁǁ͘ĐŽŵĨŽƌĐĂƌĞ͘ĐŽŵͬŶĞǁͲũĞƌƐĞLJͬƐŽŵĞƌƐĞƚͲĐŽƵŶƚLJ • ea reparat on • Homemaking • ransportat on • Certified HHAs • Live-in & Hourly If you are looking to remain independent and active, then Heath Village is the place for you. An energetic retirement community with a history of resident satisfaction, financial stability and uncompromising service, Heath Village has been an affordable retirement choice with OPTIONAL ENTRANCE FEES for nearly 50 years. 430 Schooley’s Mountain Road Hackettstown, NJ 07840 Email: info@heathvillage.com www.heathvillage.com Heath Village A Unique Retirement Community! Call 908-684-5009 Today to reserve a spot at our Open House or at one of our upcoming Village Luncheons! Join us for our FALL OPEN HOUSE Saturday, October 17th: Tours 11am or 12:30pm No Life Care Fees! Dementia plucks abilities from us one by one, like a skillful pickpocket snagging valuables. First, recent mem- ories may go missing. Next, it may be complex reasoning. Then a few of our words just aren’t to be found when we need them. Bit by bit, we lose much of what we once considered our identity. But not everything is lost. Many of our core human traits remain. An important part of the dementia training we provide our home health aides at ComForCare is this message: Whether you are a professional or a family caregiver, you can increase both your effectiveness and your dementia patient’s happiness by recognizing and building on the functional abilities that remain. These abilities include: Emotions. Dementia patients retain a full range of emotions. Nothing we do as caregivers is more important than working to increase their positive expe- riences and avoid unhappy ones. The first step is to make sure we shake off our own negative emotions before we interact with the patient. We need to project a spirit of calm and friendliness to our patient or loved one. We can’t fool them. If we are tense, rushing or angry, they will pick up on that imme- diately and will likely respond in kind. The need for control. The desire to be in control of ourselves and our envi- ronment is a basic human trait. Even though caregivers may need to set lim- its for the sake of safety, it is very important that we do so respectfully and that we continue to offer choices. Try saying: “Do you want to wear the blue shirt or the red one?” This is more successful than saying “What do you want to wear?” Open ended questions can be overwhelming, but the choice makes the dementia patient feel respected. The need for social contact & communication. People need people. One sad effect of dementia is that patients may find themselves isolated. At first they may intentionally avoid others because they are embarrassed about their loss of abilities. Later they sometimes become isolated because their verbal communication and social skills are severely impaired, and others don’t understand how to connect. But there is always a way to com- municate with, and make a connection with, a dementia patient. Communi- cation takes place with gesture, with touch, with tone of voice or by enjoy- ing a shared experience like music, the outdoors, or looking at pictures together. Even at the very end of life, caregivers need to reach out with touch, loving speech, music or by bringing the patient good smells and tastes. When verbal communication, and even gesture, are no longer mean- ingful, reach out through the senses. Have trust that you are connecting with the person you are caring for. They may no longer have the ability to give a response, but trust that they can feel the love. Wouldn’t we all want that? We’ve recently started a blog to share resources, information about home care and a little inspiration about aging and being a caregiver. You can find it at seniorcarenjblog.com. WHAT THE THIEF LEFT BEHIND GREAT CARE FOR DEMENTIA PATIENT By: Nancy Lorince, CSA, CDP, Director of ComForCare Home Care