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Creating the Right Environment for Success with Dementia

Details:

Making the home safe

1. We need to think of modifications because our needs change simply through NORMAL AGING. Some changes are:

• Additional nightlights due to vision changes
• Medication organizers
• Raised toilet seats – due to decreased dexterity
• Safety grab bars in the bathroom to prevent falls
• Safety treads or adhesives on the tub bottom
• Removal of throw rugs
• Additional lamps or brighter bulb
• Choosing to sit in a different chair than your usual favorite soft easy chair from which it is now difficult to rise

2. If you care for a person with Alzheimer’s Disease in your home, then you are, trying to stay one step ahead of each new need or behavior, and you look for physical safety first. Some changes are:

• Locked doors
• Proper, sufficient lighting to prevent falls
• Secure or remove area rugs
• Use chairs with arms, and firm seats
• Lean your arm on the back or side of the chair to check its tip-ability
• Bathrooms clearly marked, a path to them lit at night
• Make an adjustment to the stove so that the knobs cannot be turned on
• Put in an eight foot fence in your yard to allow safe access to the outdoors
• Lock the garage door, and secure the keys Emotional/Psychological safety and support

3. What, in addition to physical features, gives a sense of security and support?

• Family/caregivers who focus on interactions and relationships, not tasks
• Segregated space, or time with others with dementia
• Takes too much energy for one with dementia to try to fit in by covering
• To be known as an individual with unique needs and interests
• A routine
• Recognition – of the things and people around us
• Sense of belonging
• A sense of control of time alone versus time with others
• To feel oriented, knowing your way around
• Trust of the people around you who are there to help you

4. How do you offer this kind of safe environment at home?

• The family members need to be knowledgeable about the disease process, and how to best respond to it
• The family members need to step into the world of the persons with dementia, rather than force them into theirs
• The family member can regain control by education – knowledge is control
• This is where you as professionals come in
• You are the link, the connection between the families and their loved ones
• Teach them communication techniques – the “DON’TS and DO”S”
• Teach them not how to ‘manage’ but how to understand and work with the behaviors
• Teach them to focus on what remains within each individual, not what has been lost
• In order to give persons with dementia and their family members a feeling of comfort and wellbeing, it is up to you to know how to order the physical environment and our interactions.