What is Dementia Home Care?

Dementia home care typically offers medical and other assistance to persons living with dementia, without removing them from their homes. Dementia home care specialists can offer assistance to the families of those with dementia by visiting to provide medical supervision, baths, exercise, and other supportive care. Live-in dementia home care specialists may move into the home of the person living with dementia, to provide for the person's physical and emotional needs round-the-clock. People living with dementia may need help performing daily activities, taking medication, eating, drinking, and exercising. Supervision may be necessary to keep people living with dementia from wandering off and becoming lost, from hurting themselves, or from becoming ill because they have forgotten to take food, water, or medication.

There are several types of home care for people living with dementia. A person with dementia may need nursing care or medical supervision that their regular caretakers are unable to provide. A person living with dementia may need someone to keep him company, help soothe him when he is agitated, and accompany him during exercise to stave off feelings of restlessness and keep him from getting lost. Feeding, bathing, and dressing services may be necessary in some cases. Some people suffering dementia may simply need an escort to help them get around.

Specialists in dementia home care can often help the patient's family, friends or other caretakers learn how to cope with the patient's needs. People living with dementia may become agitated and upset. They may behave inappropriately and suffer from sleep disturbances.

They can become confused and restless, and may need extra help and encouragement performing daily tasks, such as bathing, dressing, eating, and taking medications. They are often prone to falls, choking, and wandering away. Dementia home care specialists can help make the homes of those suffering from dementia as safe and comfortable as possible, and can help other caretakers establish routines that help soothe anxiety and restlessness in the patient.

Dementia home care generally seeks to allow people living with dementia to retain as much autonomy as possible. While dementia home care may be an option for many people living with dementia, some people with dementia may need to be cared for in an institutional setting. Adult day care facilities and boarding homes are two of the options for institutionalized dementia care.