Alzheimer’s patients will all have somewhat different needs at various points in their lives. Some of them can require 24 hour care every day. Other Alzheimer’s caretakers will only have to help patients with certain tasks and activities. These individuals might need more Alzheimer’s disease caregiver support as the medical disorder starts to progress.
Some patients may need to work with different professional caregivers when their disorder is at a new stage. Some people who once only needed a moderate amount of assistance each day might begin to have new problems when trying to care for themselves.
The disease can sometimes get worse relatively quickly, but it won’t always be obvious. A family member might notice that the patient is starting to have more issues with cleaning or other chores, for example. Alzheimer’s patients need to see their doctors relatively frequently, but some changes can happen in between medical checkups.
Having substantial levels of Alzheimer’s caregivers support may prevent some people from developing new health concerns. Getting Alzheimer’s disease care is not going to eliminate all of a patient’s symptoms, but it might stop them from having new secondary difficulties that are also hard to treat or address.
Caregivers have such an important job. If you have elderly loved ones that you are taking care of, then you understand how crucial it is to have certain characteristics. If you do not what your family member going in to an elderly care facility or nursing home, then you might want to look into in home care. This is where your loved one can stay at home, either theirs or yours and will have caregivers come every day. You can have them come either just during the day if your loved one is perfectly safe, just needs help bathing and having meals cooked or cleaning and things like that. However, for more severe cases, there are 24 hours services that are available. Here are a few things that you should look for in caregivers when interviewing.
Qualifications
It’s all well and good for the caregiver to be the nicest person in the world. However, if they do not possess the necessary certificates and schooling to do the job, you should not hire them. They might know how to babysit and help someone but they won’t understand all the ins and outs of the job. They won’t be trained in CPR, they won’t know what to do in an emergency, they won’t be legally allowed to administer medications, they won’t know how to properly lift or assist a person without injuring themselves or the one they are helping, plus so much more. There’s a lot more that goes into care giving than just watching over someone.
Ability
Now that you know that the caregivers you are looking into are qualified and hold the necessary licenses to operate the equipment that will be in the home, it is time to look at ability. Taking note of things like strength and size compared to the person they are caring for is crucial. If your elderly father is still big and burly, will a petite, little lady be able to catch him if he takes a spill? Things like these are why you should always meet each caregiver in person before committing to hire them.
Empathy
You want to hire someone that is empathetic to what your loved one is going through. An impatient and crabby person is not going to be very nice company for your family member. Keep in mind that while you are at work or busy, they will be alone with the caregivers so they need to get along. If your caregiver has empathy, they will not get annoyed or irritated easily and will not patronize your loved one. This is another important factor- no likes to be talked down to and empathetic people understand that they should not do that. In fact, it would probably be against their nature to even think of it.
Listening Skills
If the potential caregiver keeps interrupting you while you are interviewing them, you can take this as a red flag and move on. A caregiver that does not know how to listen, usually thinks that they know better and may not follow the instructions that you give them while caring for your loved one. If they think they have a better plan or idea, they will likely just follow that. Or, they may just forget what you tell them because they weren’t listening effectively.
Commitment
Consistency is key for elderly loved ones. All of the change that they are going through can be difficult and confusing. Having the same couple of people coming to take care of them will help ease their minds. If they do not have severe dementia or Alzheimer disease, they will get to know their caregivers and providing you choose a good one, grow to love them as family. Try to find someone that is willing to take the job long term. Someone that just wants a part time job while going to school or in conjunction with another job is probably not going to be sticking around for very long.
A good caregiver understands that even though the person is sick or sometimes even incapable of certain things, they are still their elder and should be given respect and dignity at all times.