Watching someone you care for struggle with the effects of cognitive impairment is nothing short of heartbreaking and, though it is probably your instinct to try and care for them yourself, there are a number of reasons why it may be better for everyone involved for you to find a good Memory Care community instead. This article is intended to give an overview of the processes involved in caring for someone suffering from a cognitive condition and why it would be better for both you and your loved one if they were rather moved to a dedicated Memory Care community.
Caring for Someone with a Cognitive Impairment
It is important that your loved one receives appropriate care for their condition, whether that is from you or a care facility. Cognitive impairment has a number of requirements for the proper care of your loved ones, depending on the kind and severity of impairment that your loved ones are dealing with.
One of the most important things you can do to help your loved one maintain a healthy lifestyle is to ensure they have a consistent and beneficial routine to follow. Even to a healthy mind, a good routine is an important thing, and this is especially true for someone with a cognitive issue that may affect their ability to make meaningful decisions. A positive and healthy routine can help to mitigate stress and ground your loved one.
Along with a healthy routine, you should ensure that you or someone you trust is with your loved one as much as possible. In particular, you should be with them whenever they have an important meeting or event, especially with their doctor. This is to help minimize the potentially dangerous effects of their unstable memory and can also allow you to monitor them for any troubling behavior, so you can keep their doctor informed as accurately as possible. Another way to help them to deal with the effects of their condition on their memory is to encourage them to keep a notepad or diary with them at all times. In this way, they can keep a record of anything and everything they want to be sure to remember and secure some measure of self-reliance, which can be extremely beneficial to their stress around memory. Helping to reduce stress is doubly important, as stress has been linked to issues with cognitive health.
Why Memory Care Communities are a Good Alternative
One of the major reasons that Memory Care facilities, such as The Auberge Scottsdale facility in Arizona, are so beneficial is that they are a dedicated facility that is able to have 24/7 care available to your loved one. No matter how much you might like to or how hard you try, you aren’t going to be able to be there for your loved one around the clock. Obligations from work, other family, or even just the fact that you need to sleep are going to get in the way of your ability to care for them, and with the importance of routine to reduce your loved one’s stress, even small disruptions can be severely damaging. However, in a Memory Care community, your loved one is likely to have constant access to multiple, trained members of staff who will help to mitigate their stress levels at all times and give a constant sense of structure and order in their world.
Additionally, regular, varied, and appropriate exercise is often a feature of Memory Care communities, which is extremely beneficial for mental and physical health. Exercise is, unfortunately, one of the things that people very rarely have consistent time for, and as a result, it is a key aspect of your loved one’s mental and physical health that you likely aren’t able to focus on.
As part of a Memory Care community, your loved one will not only have near-constant access to highly trained staff but will also likely have access to a number of important services and activities from speech therapy to religious services, that they might not be able to engage with while in your care. Speech therapy, in particular, is extremely important for those suffering from advanced forms of dementia as it helps them to retain their ability to communicate for as long as is possible effectively.
Finally, an important reason that you should consider moving your loved one to a Memory Care community is your own mental health. You should not be ashamed to acknowledge the adverse effect that having a person dependent on you has on your mental health, nor should you shy away from the equally negative emotions you likely feel when considering moving them to a care facility. However, it is important for you to recognize that these emotions are not going anywhere and if caring for your loved one is detrimental to your mental health, as it is for many others, then you need to consider the fact that you will not be able to effectively care for them. It would likely be better for everyone involved that your loved one be cared for by professionals in an environment designed for their care.
Moving Your Loved One
If you come to the decision that you do need to move your loved one to a Memory Care community, then there are a couple of things you need to consider.
First, you should decide on a location and make a suitable plan for how you, and others from your family, are going to regularly visit. Then you should sit down and have an honest conversation with your loved one. It is important that they understand why and how you have come to this decision and that it is beneficial for everyone involved. Make sure to address their feelings on the matter and say without a shadow of a doubt that you are not simply sending them away but rather that you are making a move to improve their quality of life.
