People with Alzheimer’s Disease fare better in familiar environments, surrounded by familiar faces. They may not always remember the names of the people around them, but familiarity with surroundings and routine evokes a sense of calm. New environments often cause anxiety, which can unfortunately lead to unacceptable behavior.

Keeping an elder with dementia at home safely requires special precautions. Wandering can be an issue, so alarms may need to be placed on doors. Door locks should be moved and placed high or low on exterior doors to prevent wandering outside the home. Locks should be removed from inside doors of bathrooms or bedrooms to prevent the elder from getting locked inside.

Sleep disturbances are common and you may find your elder parent getting up in the middle of the night with increased confusion. It may be necessary to use an alarmed mat by the bedside to alert other members of the household about nighttime awakenings.

Make sure appliances (like irons, curling irons, heaters) have an “auto shut off” feature to prevent burns or fires. Disable the stove if need be or install a hidden gas valve or circuit breaker. Use child proof locks or door knob covers on cabinets containing hazardous cleaning agents, knives, or on doors leading to stairways.

Elders with Alzheimer’s Disease fall more frequently than elders who do not have dementia, and thus the safety precautions to prevent falls is even more critical. My passion is to ensure that seniors live with as much independence and dignity in the homes and communities they cherish for as long as possible. I have so much more information including videos of where to install grab rails in the bathroom, how to prevent slips and trips indoors and outside the home, and to how to safety proof each room in the house.

Elders who remain in their own homes and communities live longer and have more satisfying and productive lives.

For two free videos – the first to show you how to reduce your parent’s risk of tripping or slipping and the second to teach you an unbelievably effective yet simple and inexpensive way to make stairs less of a hazard go to: www.HelpElderlyParents.com

Although Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD) is the most common (about 50-60% of all cases), there are other types of dementia that may require alternative treatments. Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) is not uncommon, representing about 20% of cases.

AD presents with a subtle decline in the ability to remember new information, memory loss, forgetfulness, and other cognitive changes. Hallmark signs of LBD are fluctuating cognition with significant variations in attention and alertness. Also, victims of LBD are likely to have recurrent detailed visual hallucinations along with symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease (slowed, stiff movement) relatively early in the course of the disease, whereas, these symptoms may appear in the late stages of AD.

Also, quite common is vascular dementia, which is caused by a series of mini-strokes in the brain. The strokes (usually caused by a clot) prevent blood flow to cells in the brain causing small areas of the brain tissue to die. The areas are small enough to go unnoticed, but over time brain function is lost. Many elders with dementia have more than one kind, for instance AD plus vascular dementia.

My passion is to try to keep elders independent at home for as long as possible. Keeping a parent home with dementia can be challenging and requires a lot more diligence in terms of safety. Stay tuned for information on how to care for your parent with dementia at home.

Elders who remain in their own homes and communities live longer and have more satisfying and productive lives.

For two free videos – the first to show you how to reduce your parent’s risk of tripping or slipping and the second to teach you an unbelievably effective yet simple and inexpensive way to make stairs less of a hazard go to: www.HelpElderlyParents.com

A full exam should be done to rule out other causes of cognitive loss such as a hematoma (bleeding into the brain), tumor, medication side effects or interactions, vitamin deficiency, hormone or metabolic imbalance, or infection). Tests should be done such a CAT scan or MRI of the brain along with some laboratory tests.

A mental exam (the most widely used is called a mini-mental exam) should also be done. In this test, your mom or dad will be asked some simple questions such as what year is it and who is the president to determine their orientation to time and place. They will also be asked to remember a series of three words, begin with 100 and count backwards by 7, and spell a word backwards. Lastly, they will be asked to name common objects, repeat a phrase, perform a three step command, read, write, copy a picture or draw a clock.

It seems unlikely, but research has shown that it is this last task of drawing that is the most diagnostic of AD. Spatial relationships seem to be impaired in early Alzheimers, and it is shocking to watch an elder with seemingly mild cognitive decline have great difficulty drawing the hands inside the face of a clock.

Stay tuned for differentiating Alzheimer’s Dementia from other forms of dementia and also how to help an elder with dementia live safely at home.

Elders who remain in their own homes and communities live longer and have more satisfying and productive lives.

For two free videos – the first to show you how to reduce your parent’s risk of tripping or slipping and the second to teach you an unbelievably effective yet simple and inexpensive way to make stairs less of a hazard go to: www.HelpElderlyParents.com

If your parent is fairly independent but needs some assistance with bathing, dressing, or toileting and with meals, then an assisted living may be the best option if they can afford it. Assisted living facilities vary in cost, but average around $3,000/month for the basic services (private living/sleeping area with a bathroom and three meals/day- and there are usually choices for meals that are served in elegant dining rooms). Activities are also included and the daily list can be extensive with exercise classes, music, games, book readings, movies, even trips going on all day long. There is generally part-time medical care provided by a nurse or nurse practitioner.

Some Assisted Living Facilities can accommodate elders with mild to moderate dementia at a higher fee. They will provide specially trained staff in locked units for safety. Most require that the elder needs no more than one person to assist them with activities such as bathing, dressing, and getting up and down. Most facilities will allow you to bring in hired help if your parent requires more than the one person assist they will provide.

Contrary to popular opinion, nursing homes are expensive. The cost includes nursing care, rehabilitation if needed, and an increased number of nurses aides. Of course, meals are provided but with far less elegance and choice and rooms and bathrooms are likely to not be private. A stay in a nursing home can average $10,000 or more per month. Most residents pay for their nursing home stay until they run out of money, which is when they can apply for state assistance.

So, if your parent is still somewhat independent and can afford to live in assisted living for any length of time, this is the less costly solution. Before you do anything, consider paying for help to come into your parent’s home. Two hours of help per day could cost less than a third of the cost of an assisted living facility, four hours a day a little more than half!

Elders who remain in their own homes and communities live longer and have more satisfying and productive lives.

For two free videos – the first to show you how to reduce your parent’s risk of tripping or slipping and the second to teach you an unbelievably effective yet simple and inexpensive way to make stairs less of a hazard go to: www.HelpElderlyParents.com

Proper lighting in the home could save an elder from tripping or slipping. You see, as we age we need more light to see. In fact an older person needs 4x more light than a younger person and elders over the age of 80 need 10x more light.

Take a look around your parent’s house at night (also during the day if there is little natural light) and see how bright each room is with the lights on. I find that many elderly folks have lamps situated in corners by chairs that provide lighting in small areas. There are often large areas of rooms that are poorly lit.

This may not seem so critical to you, but if you needed 4-10x more light to see an object, a dimly lit room is a dark room. Furniture or objects on the floor may not be seen and it doesn’t take much to cause an elder to lose balance and fall.

To reduce the risk of a fall start by increasing the lighting. This can be done by adding lighting or increasing the wattage of the existing lighting. Hallways and stairways are particularly dark at night. Consider putting in additional lighting in these areas.

During the night when the lights are off don’t use nightlights (as these are useless for providing light). Instead, illuminate hallways with a strip of lighting along the edge of the floor. This type of lighting can be purchased at your local hardware store in various lengths – simply lay the strip along the wall and plug in.

Leave lights on in other rooms that may be passed through in middle of the night during trips to the bathroom and make sure that the bathroom light is visible and easily accessed at the doorway.

Elders who remain in their own homes and communities live longer and have more satisfying and productive lives.

For two free videos – the first to show you how to reduce your parent’s risk of tripping or slipping and the second to teach you an unbelievably effective yet simple and inexpensive way to make stairs less of a hazard go to: www.HelpElderlyParents.com

Falls are among the most serious problems of the elderly. In the United States falling is:

» the leading cause of injuries
» the fifth leading cause of death
» the second leading cause of accidental death in people aged 65 years and older
The most serious of fall related injuries are hip fractures. More than 90 percent of hip fractures are associated with falls. One-fourth of all elders who fracture a hip will die within six months of the injury. This means if your parent falls and breaks a hip, there is a 25 percent chance that they will be dead within six months. This holds true for parents who are otherwise healthy, who might have several golden years of playing with grandchildren or traveling to far away places ahead of them.

As a nurse practitioner who is passionate about helping the elderly stay independent in their own homes for as long as possible, I am well aware of the consequences of a fall at home. If you are as committed to doing everything you can to keep your parents out of a nursing home, then it is critical that you help them avoid falling

Elders who remain in their own homes and communities live longer and have more satisfying and productive lives.

For two free videos – the first to show you how to reduce your parent’s risk of tripping or slipping and the second to teach you an unbelievably effective yet simple and inexpensive way to make stairs less of a hazard go to: www.HelpElderlyParents.com

If you promised to to keep your mom or dad in their own home and out of a nursing home, but are struggling to figure out how, here are some ideas to get some help. Start by contacting your local Elder Services Agency. If you don’t have one listed, call the local senior center or council for aging or any service in your parent’s community that deals with senior citizens and ask if there is an agency in the area that can provide assistance to elders living at home.

An Elder Services Agency if available should be able to assess the needs of the elder and provide free or low cost help in the form of a home health aide for personal care like dressing and bathing, a housekeeper, and meal support through programs like meals on wheels if available. There may also be support from a local senior center. Some senior centers have day care programs for elders with dementia (or can refer you to one) and they usually have other events and social gatherings for senior citizens. There may even be a program set up to provide transportation to and from the center.

Support could also come from a local church or other organization in the area. If your parent’s have ties to a religious community, call the church and ask for help. If these options can’t provide enough assistance, you basically have two options. Hire help yourself or contact a local home health agency and let them provide an employee.

The advantages of using an agency is that they do the hiring, firing, background checks and are responsible for replacing workers who call in sick. The disadvantage is that you will pay quite a bit more for this service. Depending upon where your parents’ live, it will cost around $25/hour during the daytime for help through an agency. Although time consuming, hiring the help yourself can work really well if you find the right person. You can advertise in local libraries or convenience stores or the local paper and pay $15/hour (which is probably $3 more per hour than the agency would pay them and save you $10/hour).

Most elders protest when confronted with the need for bringing help into their home, but in order for them to stay at home it often becomes a necessity. Start slow and introduce a little at a time and increase the assistance as the needs arise. It is prudent to anticipate and be ready to increase the support prior to needing it.

Elders who remain in their own homes and communities live longer and have more satisfying and productive lives.

For two free videos – the first to show you how to reduce your parent’s risk of tripping or slipping and the second to teach you an unbelievably effective yet simple and inexpensive way to make stairs less of a hazard go to: www.HelpElderlyParents.com

Here’s one tip towards making your parent’s home safer that can literally be a lifesaver. Elderly folks feel more comfortable when holding onto or even just touching an object for better balance. Often elders will walk around a room or down a hallway, touching furniture or the wall for that added security. Unfortunately, a wall will not keep your parent upright if they stumble or loose balance.

Consider installing railings in hallways and grab bars in entryways. The simple act of adding a railing in a hallway could literally save your parent’s life. Handrails are not expensive and easy to install. And the cost-savings would be in the thousands simply by preventing an injury. Consider the cost of an emergency room visit, a hospitalization, hip fracture surgery, rehabilitation, and nursing home placement. A handrail or grab bar could potentially prevent that financial and emotional burden.

Handrails should be place 34 inches from the floor along any long or short walkway. Believe me if there’s a railing there, your parent will use it! If there isn’t room for a handrail, consider installing a grab bar. They can be placed vertically inside the door frame of any room. A grab bar was installed inside the doorframe of my parent’s bathroom after watching my mother struggle to get to the sink while reaching for the towel rack for support (towel racks are not meant to support any weight).

Grab bars can also be installed along the door frames of any outside doors where there are steps. This allows elders to step down while holding onto a secure bar for support without having to reach out for the railing. Grab bars and railings can be bought at any hardware store and can be installed by anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of hand tools and construction. The height of the elder will determine the proper height of the grab bar. In other words install it at a height that is comfortable for your parents.

Elders who remain in their own homes and communities live longer and have more satisfying and productive lives.

For two free videos – the first to show you how to reduce your parent’s risk of tripping or slipping and the second to teach you an unbelievably effective yet simple and inexpensive way to make stairs less of a hazard go to:  www.HelpElderlyParents.com

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