Dementia and Alzheimer's Nursing
Live-In Nursing Care When Living With Dementia
Often people live with their dementia for many years. However, every person with dementia is unique and how their symptoms progress can be unique as well. This means there may come a time when a person needs the support of a qualified nurse.
Home nursing is even more important to dementia patients as being moved out of the familiar surroundings of their home can be even more confusing and upsetting for dementia patients. It is important to keep their routine the same in familiar surroundings to help manage their symptoms.
It is also important to remember that many people with dementia have other health conditions prior to their diagnosis (examples might include diabetes, heart or circulatory problems, arthritis, or mental health conditions), or they can develop cancer during a period of illness from another health condition. Our nurses are skilled at managing multiple conditions and ensuring that the individual can live as well as possible.
How Can Live-In Nursing Help?
Moving out of the family home with a loved one that is living with dementia can result in even greater confusion and upset for them. With this in mind, we understand that it’s important that routine and familiar surroundings are maintained and that change is kept to a minimum; a Consultus Live-in Nurse helps to achieve this balance.
Our Live-in Nurses can provide:
- All aspects of personal care
- Administer medication
- Liaise with other healthcare professionals
- Understand the different ways in which dementia can manifest itself as it advances
- Are familiar with the challenges faced every day by the person with dementia and by their family and friends and can provide the reassurance you need
- Recognise that familiarity and continuity are particularly beneficial to people with dementia and so encourage their clients to adopt a daily routine
- Support clients to exercise choice, control, and independence wherever possible
- Can help clients with limited verbal communication to be understood through interpreting non-verbal communication such as facial expressions, body language, movements, and sounds
- Understand how to implement a dementia-friendly environment to make the person’s home as safe and supportive as possible for them
- Support their clients to continue to enjoy favourite occupations or activities, and try new ones, maximising their abilities
- Are aware of alternative therapies that can be helpful to alleviate distressing symptoms, including life story work and reminiscence, music, arts and crafts, gardening, sensory therapy, and validation
- Provide companionship and social interaction, reducing the risks of loneliness and depression
- Can support their clients to make healthy lifestyle choices through diet and exercise, and provide the encouragement to eat and drink that is sometimes needed
- Ensure that each client, irrespective of their condition, feels valued, respected, and safe, and is able to help them make the most of their lives
- Provide end-of-life care to ensure your loved one can remain in their own home.
Douglas' Story
Douglas, an elderly gentleman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, had already expressed a fervent desire to receive any care he might need at home in Lincolnshire.
Alzheimer’s is a degenerative condition, but its progress can be temporarily slowed if the circumstances are just right. In this case, full-time care was a necessity. We were approached by Douglas’s solicitor and asked to set up a rota of care. Establishing his current needs was an important first step.
We arranged for one of our Live-in Nurses with mental health nursing experience to begin the assignment and work with Douglas, his GP and the community psychiatric nurse to formulate an appropriate care plan. Once our nurse had stabilised Douglas in his home, she was able to hand over to one of our Live-in Carers. She then returned for two weeks in every six in order to monitor Douglas’s condition and be sure that he was receiving as much care as he needed.
As with many of our dementia patients, continuity of care was paramount to minimise confusion. With a small team of regular nurses and carers, Douglas flourished for many months. He had the encouragement he needed to be independent wherever possible and his social life resumed, with increased visits from friends and trips out.
Ultimately and inevitably, Douglas’s condition has deteriorated as the Alzheimer’s symptoms have taken hold. His personality has undergone some changes and his behaviour has become more aggressive and unpredictable. By monitoring Douglas’s condition closely, we identified exactly when we needed to alter his levels of care. Following consultation with his solicitor and medical professionals, we now provide Douglas with full-time Live-in Nursing, keeping him as stable as the condition allows in the comforting environment of his own home.