It’s never easy putting your loved one into memory care nursing homes. However, caring for someone with dementia is not an easy feat either. Assisted living facilities are a great place to have a balance between the care they need while still making sure that you maintain the relationship that you want to have with them. Here are a few signs that it might be time to start looking into memory care nursing homes for your loved one.
Inability to Care for Themselves
The number one way to know that you need to get your loved one in a home is that they are no long able to take care of themselves in the simplest ways. If they need help eating, bathing or tying their shoes, chances are that they need help with a lot of other things that they aren’t ready to admit yet. It’s unrealistic to expect that you are going to be able to be there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If it is getting to the pint where they need someone there all the time, the best place for them to be is in a home where there are trained aids and nurses that will care for them better than you can, round the clock.
Caregiver Burn Out or Stress
If you are attempting to be their only caregiver, this can cause a lot of stress on you. It’s important that you are still looking after yourself otherwise you are going to be in no shape to care for anyone else. It’s also crucial to take a look at your emotional and mental capabilities. Feelings of being burned out or stress may not be recognizable at first. However, if you find yourself sinking in to depression, feeling tired and fatigued or irritable, it might be because you are being overtaxed with your regular work and life as well as having to be the caregiver for your loved one as well.
Severe Loss of Weight
Loss of weight means that your loved one is not eating properly. This may be because they don’t want to or it could be because they don’t remember to. Either way, this is a very good reason to put them into a home. Memory care nursing homes have designated times when people are supposed to eat their meals and this helps them to make sure that not only are they eating on time but that they are eating good, nutritious meals. It’s not enough to just eat, older people especially need to be eaten healthy foods.
Increase in Falls
After a certain age, falling is incredibly dangerous. If you feel that you loved one is tripping over more, they need to be in an environment where they can be constantly monitored and helped. Nursing homes tend to be designed in such a way that stairs and steps and uneven pavements are also minimal.
Sudden Mood Swings or Violent Outbursts
This is a common symptom for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. However, an increase in the mood swings and outbursts could mean that the condition is advancing and they need to be in an environment where they can be closely watched. Most care facilities have specially trained staff for these types of convictions so they can see when an episode is about to happen before they become a danger to themselves or anyone else.
There are many great activities for seniors in assisted living facilities or memory care nursing homes. Try to remember that putting your loved one into an assisted living facility does not mean that you are giving up on them. Quite contrary to that, you are actually helping them in a way that you could not do at home. They will appreciate this eventually even if they don’t understand right now. Once you get your relationship back on track with your loved one, they’ll see that you were just looking out for their best interests and were not trying to go against their wishes. It could even be their best years. At the end of the day, they don’t want to be a burden to you.
