“A Family’s story near Satsuma AL”
Your father has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and while you and the rest of your family continues to try and cope with this revelation, you need to pull yourself together long enough to focus on planning for the future. Each individual will have different needs, different preferences, and things that they want to do in their life. If your father has indicated that he would rather spend time at an assisted living community in the future, then it’s time to begin planning for this now.
The average individual that has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s will live another eight years. Many of those years they will be able to care for themselves for the most part, maybe requiring some level of assistance at times.
However, as the disease progresses, it’s going to be more important to have the proper care in place, and to have planned for it, in order to allow them to be as comfortable as possible. In the latter stages of the illness, make sure things that are familiar to the individual surround them, even if they can’t remember the people around them, or what they did yesterday, or even what they usually do. A routine has been proven to be most effective when it comes to quality care for the patient with Alzheimer’s. The earlier you begin planning and developing this routine, the more it’s going to help during those latter stages of the disease.
What does that means as far as finding an assisted living facility for your father? While he may not be planning on moving into this type of facility yet, and even though he still has your mother with him, the sooner that he does actually move in, the sooner he will begin to develop the routine that will provide him some comfort in those last months, or even years.
It’s not easy to accept that this is happening to someone you care about, but that doesn’t mean you’re entirely helpless. If you know that your father is going to require assisted living, and he is okay with it, then begin planning for that move sooner rather than later. It’s not like moving into assisted living for other senior care purposes. That routine is crucial.
When someone you care about has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, begin making long-range care plans now and that might include assisted living.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Assisted Living, contact Ashbury Manor Specialty Care and Assisted Living in Satsuma AL at 251-317-3017.
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