Why Alzheimer's Patients Need a Specialized Memory Care Facility
Finding a comfortable facility for your aging loved one’s long-term care is trying enough. The situation is made much more difficult when your loved one also has Alzheimer’s or dementia, or suffers from other forms of memory loss. Far too few people recognize that a standard care facility often isn’t sufficient for these patients’ unique needs, and that they require a specialized memory care facility. Why is this so important for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients? Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of memory care facilities, and how they differ from standard long-term care facilities.
How Do Memory Care Facilities Differ?
First, it’s important to recognize that a memory care facility is not the same as your average nursing home or senior living community. These facilities often have increased security features to help protect patients during any bouts of memory loss. This may include things such as keypad entries for doors, a chiming alarm system that indicates when someone opens a door, and simple facility layouts that minimize confusion for residents. These kinds of features may seem small, but they can prevent a resident from wandering out of the facility and potentially becoming lost or injured.
Additionally, the staff in a memory care facility will have the specialized training and knowledge to help care for patients that struggle with memory-related conditions. Our staff are equipped to provide person-focused care for our residents to help maintain cognitive skills and their own sense of self for as long as possible. We follow best practices for a memory care facility, and know how to compassionately manage the difficult behaviors often associated with Alzheimer’s and dementia, including bouts of wandering and even aggression. We maintain a higher staff-to-resident ratio as well, to ensure we can provide this level of care.
Now that we’ve discussed some of the key differences between a memory care facility and a standard senior living community, let’s talk about the benefits of choosing a facility like ours for a loved one who has Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Improved Quality of Life
Our goal at The Sarah House is always to provide our patients with the highest quality of life possible throughout their life. For our patients with memory care needs, this means providing the extra aid outlined above, including engaging in activities that help to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and dementia as much as possible. By helping them maintain their sense of self for longer, we can help them to feel more independent and happier with their quality of life than patients who don’t receive specialized memory care.
Additionally, our facility’s safety measures help to reduce the likelihood of injury caused by dementia-related wandering, so your loved one will be safer and healthier. We also ensure that all our patients are receiving the proper nutrition every day, contributing to an overall higher quality of living.
Better Relationships with Family Members
Alzheimer’s and dementia can genuinely strain familial relationships, even under the best of circumstances. Family members often aren’t certain how to deal with common dementia-related behaviors like wandering and aggression, and having your loved one forget who you are can cause serious emotional pain and feelings of grief. These situations often create distance between the patient and their family members.
By placing your loved one in a memory care facility, you are placing them in capable hands that can handle those difficult moments involved with this condition. This helps to reduce the strain on your relationship. And though we can’t completely halt the progress of Alzheimer’s or dementia, by working to slow its progression with the right programs and therapies, your loved one will likely retain more memories of their family members for longer, allowing you to hold onto that connection you share.
Schedule a Visit to Our Memory Care Facility
If your loved one has Alzheimer’s or dementia, we encourage you to visit one of The Sarah House’s locations today. It’s important to remember that these conditions do tend to worsen, so even if your loved one isn’t yet at the point of requiring constant care, odds are high that they will require it eventually. The sooner your loved one enters a memory care facility, the easier it will be for them to adjust to their surroundings. Give us a call today to schedule a tour of our facilities and learn more about the kind of care our highly experienced memory care staff can provide for your loved one.