Sign Nursing Home Enquiry Made Easy

Sign nursing home enquiry

[Applause] pay their care Blazers welcome to the place where we talk about everything dementia if you are taking care of a loved one with any type of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease vascular dementia or Lewy body dementia then you've come to the right place in today's video we are going to talk about the top three reasons why you may need to place your loved one in a nursing home I've worked with a lot of caregivers who have wanted to avoid nursing home care at all costs but for one reason or another they ended up having to place their loved one in a nursing home despite any of their previous promises or wishes to avoid nursing home care so in today's video I'm gonna share with you the top 3 reasons why they had to do so before I get into the top 3 reasons why you may need to consider nursing home care for your loved one I first want to say that not everybody with dementia needs to live in a nursing home there are people with dementia who are able to live in the comfort of their own home by accepting help from family friends neighbors and community agencies some people with dementia are able to live in the comfort of a family member's home such as a child or grandchild other people with dementia may require a step down from nursing home care and live in a place such as an assisted living facility a personal care home or even a group home setting the best place for your loved one with dementia to live and grow old depends on several different things including what help they receive their willingness to receive help their physical abilities and the specific dementia symptoms they have so not everybody with dementia requires the same level of care for instance somebody with mild Alzheimer's disease can require a totally different level of care than another person with mild Alzheimer's disease so even people with the same exact disease and the same stage of disease can require different types of care also the one thing I really want to emphasize before we talk about the three reasons why your loved one may need nursing home care is that people who place their loved ones in nursing homes are not horrible people they don't love their loved ones any less than people who care for their loved ones at home and in fact as we'll discuss in just a minute sometimes placing your loved one in a nursing home is the best thing to do for your loved one so even though I know placing your loved one in a nursing home may come with some guilty feelings I want you to know that sometimes it is actually the best thing for them so just because you know somebody who may be caring for their loved one at home don't compare yourself to them that's not fair you have to do what is right for you and your family no one else situations are different people with dementia are different and people who are caring for loved ones with dementia are different so don't compare yourself to other people when you hear that their situation and their ability to care for somebody at home is different than yours as you begin to think about where might be the best place for your loved one with dementia to get the best care I want to encourage you to be open and to be kind to yourself remember you need to do what is best for your loved one and for you alright now let's get into the top 3 reasons why your loved one may need nursing home care reason number one has to do with safety if your loved one is no longer safe to be living at home then they may need nursing home care so let me elaborate on some specific examples that may suggest your loved one needs nursing home care if your loved one is a wanderer likes to leave the house whether they live alone or with others and they have been successful in leaving the house despite using alarms and different locks and GPS trackers maybe a sign that they need a higher level of care we all know it's difficult difficult and pretty much impossible to keep eyes on somebody 24 hours a day seven days a week so if your loved one is somebody who likes to escape from the home and wander around and get lost that's a big concern especially if your loved one is living in a state where the temperatures get really hot or really cold or lives in a high-traffic area another example that may suggest your loved one is no longer safe to live where they are and might need nursing home care is if they are no longer able to detect dangerous situations for instance letting strangers into their home giving out personal information over the phone through emails in person I have unfortunately known many people with dementia who have had their life-savings drained because of opening themselves up to strangers into their home or over the phone or through the mail so that's another sign that your loved one may no longer be okay living where they are another situation would be if your loved one does not know what to do in the event of an emergency or is not able to know what is an emergency so for example you might be surprised if you asked your loved one what to do in the event of an emergency they may not even remember anymore to call 9-1-1 they may not even remember that number or they may not even be able to tell you what a situation would be that would require them to call 9-1-1 so that's an issue if somebody is not with them 24 hours a day seven days a week these are just a few examples of safety concerns that may suggest your loved one may be ready for a nursing home or some other type of higher level of care now the second reason that your loved one may need nursing home care comes straight from the research there's been plenty of studies on this and in fact it tends to be a common one among the caregivers that I work with and that is when your loved one with dementia starts to lose control over their bowels this gets to be a really difficult time in every caregivers life because their loved ones are having lots of accidents that require a lot of help and time cleaning up and unfortunately with dementia many of the people who have the disease don't like to stay clean or may not want to change their undergarments or clothes and may be hesitant or scared of the bath and shower so that just raises the risk of infection and other health problems so losing control of bowel and bladder that tends to be one of the top three reasons why people may need nursing home care the last reason reason number three why your loved one may need her nursing home care is perhaps the hardest one for caregivers to here and that is caregiver stress now I am NOT talking about the normal level of caregiver stress that comes along to everybody caring for a loved one with dementia I'm talking about the level of caregiver stress that makes it difficult for you to get yourself out of bed in the morning the one that has you at risk for losing your job because you're constantly showing up late or missing work or leaving work early to take care of your loved one the level of stress that has your important relationships hanging on by a thread because you're spending all your time and energy on your loved one with dementia that you have neglected your own kids your own marriage and your own friends the kind of stress that has you feeling depressed anxious the kind of stress where your health is suffering because you have put yourself on the back burner and it placed your loved one as the number one priority letting yourself fall behind if any of these symptoms sound familiar to you and I'm guessing for some of you listening they will this is that your loved one may need a higher level of care so that all the pressure is not on you thank you so much for tuning in I hope this video has been helpful to you if it has please subscribe to the channel so that you can get updates when I post any new videos and I'd really like to hear from you about whether you have been considering nursing home care for your loved one and what that was like for you also if you have any questions whatsoever about caring for a loved one with dementia place them below in the comments and I will most certainly address them in a future video thank you and take care of care Blazers