Caregiving for dementia patients

An updated version of these pages is now available as a complete section on my new site, at: Caregiving for dementia patients:

The Caregiving for dementia patients section begins with discussing what the dementia caregiver’s role is.

Next, it  discusses planning for care of patients at different stages of dementia. There is also a section on early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.

Patients can be more comfortable and safe and perform their activities more easily if the home is adapted to match their abilities and needs; this section includes information on how to adapt the home for patients.

Very important for any dementia caregiver is the Dementia Caregiving Essential Toolkit, which include skills on how to communicate with dementia patients, how to help them with daily activities (also called “activities of daily living” or ADL) , how to handle challenging dementia behavior, and how to support patients in late-stage dementia.

Families need to coordinate to look after their joint responsibility of elders with dementia; the section therefore includes a discussion on family coordination of dementia care, and typical problems encountered. Caregiver emotions and stress are also discussed.

Often, caregivers are so overwhelmed tackling the daily challenges of dementia care that they forget that patients can (given the right circumstances) enjoy activities and share reminiscences; the section includes a discussion on how to improve the dementia patient’s quality of life. Also, family and friends can help the patients and the caregiver, and this topic is also discussed in this Dementia Caregiving Essential Toolkit section.

Caregiving for dementia patients is part of my new site, Dementia Care Notes, which aims to give a space for caregivers of dementia patients in India. The site also includes information on dementia, with special focus on how dementia affects behavior, all written from a caregiver perspective. Resources that can be useful to caregivers are listed, including several organizations in India. City-wise resources (for cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and others) are included. The site also contains “caregiver voices” where we share personal stories of several caregivers and professionals who are caring for dementia patients in India.  Dementia updates, such as understanding of risk factors and prevention, and data on dementia prevalence/ policy/ reports in India are included. Click here to reach the site,  Dementia Care Notes.