Alzheimer’s Disease & Your Home Pt. 2

05 Jan

Alzheimer’s Disease & Your Home Pt. 2

Pacing, Wandering & Confusion

Following are some examples of adaptations that may be made to a home occupied by a person with Alzheimer’s disease to accommodate the pacing, wandering and confusion
that are typical of AD.

Pacing and Wandering

  • Move furniture back from the centre of rooms, remove all small pieces of furniture, and keep hallways clear of furniture and knick-knacks, to allow for pacing and circular wandering.
  • Keep a solid armchair in the kitchen or the centre of quiet activity, so that the AD person can sit there and be part of things. This may discourage wandering.
  • Move a bed or a sofa bed to the main floor of a two-storey house, so that the AD person can rest when weary without going upstairs.

Confusion about whereabouts

  • For apartments dwellers—mark the door of the AD person’s apartment in a very distinct way, perhaps with a photograph, a
  • wreath, or a flag of some sort.
  • Likewise, put a sign or a symbol that means something special to the AD person on their bedroom door, to help them know where they are.
  • If the AD person is a rummage-and-hide person, lock away clothes in a separate bedroom and dole them out one outfit at a time.
  • Allow the person with AD to carry out old habits (like watering the plants or having a nap after lunch or collecting the mail) as long as these habits do not put anyone at risk.
  • Leave on all the lights in the house if the AD person feels surrounded and frightened by darkness, and adjust the lighting to reduce shadows. This may require adding more lighting.
  • Remove carpeting if the AD person becomes confused about where to urinate. (It is usually males who have this problem.)
  • Colour the water in the toilet bowl to assist a male patient’s aim.

Anxiousness and Restlessness

There are three main adaptations that can be made to private homes to prevent or decrease the anxiousness and restlessness of persons with AD.

  • Keep the television off, move it to a private caregiver’s room, or watch only non-violent programs with the AD person.
  • Play soothing music that is appropriate to the age and era of the AD person.
  • Cover all the mirrors in the house and keep the curtains drawn at night.

Reflections can be very frightening to people with dementia when they do not recognize the people in the reflection.

Caregiver’s Needs

Following are some suggestions that can help meet caregivers’ need for assistance and respite. These are based on advice from experienced Alzheimer’s caregivers from across Canada.

Assistance

  • Contact your local Alzheimer Society of Canada, www.alzheimer.ca
  • It is very important for people in the community to be able to identify AD persons. Their name and address should be clearly marked on an identification bracelet, which they wear at all times.
  • Get all the assistance that you can from family, neighbours, shopkeepers and hired helpers.
  • Where “handicapped” parking stickers can be obtained for caregivers, get one and apply it to your car so that you can park closer to shops when out with the AD person.
  • If you are a spouse-caregiver, go out with another couple so that someone of the same gender can take the AD person to the washroom.
  • Get a visiting nurse to give baths to the AD person rather than risk a back injury for yourself.
  • Notify your neighbours and the police of your patient’s condition and ask them to alert you if the AD person is seen wandering.

Respite

  • Use a basement den, a locked extra bedroom, a study or an attic as a “hideaway” or “refuge” for you when the AD person is under the supervision of another helper.
  • Keep “adult” things in this refuge, such as television, radio, fine decorations and important correspondence.
  • Get away from home whenever possible.

Contact your REALTOR at Coldwell Banker Vantage Realty for more tips and advice on what to do to your home to make it safe for someone with Alzheimers Disease.

Reference