Nursing Home & Rehabilitaton Centre
People with dementia are often resistant to bathing. They will claim they just showered, or that they will do it later, or outright refuse to bathe. Coupling bathing with an activity is sometimes helpful, e.g. going to the doctor or out to lunch or having a bowl of ice cream. If someone is used to…
Individuals with dementia or other conditions may exhibit confusing or challenging behaviors at times. Here are tips and guidance for handling common concerns to help caregivers better understand what their loved ones may be feeling or trying to communicate. Anxiety and agitation can sometimes be caused by bodily discomfort, such as pain, constipation, hunger, or uncomfortable…
Communicating with a loved one with a brain disorder can indeed be challenging. Finding the right words and getting your point across are difficult under normal circumstances.This difficulty is often compounded by your role as a caregiver. And although there are no easy solutions, following some basic guidelines should ease communication, and lower levels of…
Read More “Guidelines for Better Communication with Brain-Impaired Adults” »
Here is some practical advice: Being Reasonable, Rational, and Logical Will Just Get You into Trouble. When someone is acting in ways that don’t make sense, we tend to carefully explain the situation, calling on his or her sense of appropriateness to get compliance. However, the person with dementia doesn’t have a “boss” in his brain…
Avoid food fights. Make mealtime as pleasant as possible. Encourage someone to eat, but don’t demand, cajole, or threaten. Someone with dementia may not know what he/she wants to eat. If giving choices, give only two things to choose between. Even if a choice is made, the person may not want it when it is…
Set up the bathroom to make it as easy as possible for the person to get on to and off of the toilet, e.g. having a raised toilet seat and grab bars. Notice when the person gives a sign about needing to use the toilet, e.g. agitation, fidgeting, tugging on clothing, wandering, touching the genital…
