5 Keys To Help Take Care Of A Patient With Alzheimer’s

To take care of a patient with Alzheimer’s you must be equipped with certain tools that allow you to deal with frustration, for example, patience

Helping care for a patient with Alzheimer’s is not an easy task. Alzheimer’s is a disease that causes the person suffering from it to progressively lose memory. First, you will begin to forget little things, until the moment comes when you do not recognize the faces of your own family.

When a person suffers from Alzheimer’s, it is not only they who are affected. The family suffers, at times, rejection, bad words and the painful reality that the person in front of them no longer knows who they are. For this reason, some keys are necessary to care for a patient with Alzheimer’s.

5 keys to caring for a patient with Alzheimer’s

1. Direct and simple communication

Communicating with a person who has Alzheimer’s can be challenging. They may become distracted, they may not understand what you are saying, and you may have to repeat it to them again. To bring this to fruition, it is necessary to be patient and follow some of the recommendations that we provide below:

• Use simple and short sentences. Don’t yell or get exasperated. Communicate calmly.
• Look the person in the eye at all times and pay attention to them.
• Be patient, because it may take its time to answer you. Don’t rush him.
• If he wants to communicate something to you, but you don’t understand it, do your best to do so.

2. Help him, but not excessively

Many people who have to care for a patient with Alzheimer’s begin to treat the patient like a baby. In fact, they communicate with him as if he were and even talk in front of him about him as if he were not there. This is nothing positive.

Even if it is difficult for the person with Alzheimer’s to communicate, dress or bathe, we must do everything possible to give them their own independence in choosing their clothes or lathering their body. It does not matter if it takes. Why should we be in a hurry? Let us remember that we must be patient.

3. Establish routines

Establishing routines can help a person with Alzheimer’s a lot. For example, that the bathroom is every day at the same time. If it can be, let’s choose that time of day when we know that the person is calm. We must do the same with eating or going to sleep.

By establishing routines, it is conditioned to an automation of a series of acts that will allow the person with Alzheimer’s to enjoy greater independence when knowing what to do. This will make her feel more confident and prevent her from becoming disoriented.

4. Help him with cognitive stimulation

For a person with Alzheimer’s to enjoy a better quality of life, it is important that we help them to keep their mind active, learning new things and doing exercises that stimulate their cognitive capacity. To achieve this, it is important that we do some activities.

Taking our time to do crossword puzzles, sudoku puzzles, to read with them or perform dictations will be very beneficial. Cognitive stimulation not only improves the quality of life, but also slows down the progression of the disease, minimizes the stress they may feel and enhances autonomy.

5. Pay attention to non-verbal communication

At the beginning, we mentioned that in helping to care for an Alzheimer’s patient, we might run into difficulties trying to interact with him. It can take a long time to respond, not do it in a coherent way or not understand what we are saying to the first.

However, we have to pay close attention to non-verbal communication. Smiles, displays of affection, a lot of physical contact such as hugs or kisses, this will help a person with Alzheimer’s to feel loved and protected.

In the event that we become stressed, if we lose patience or if we do not take time to perform certain activities with it, the person with Alzheimer’s will not improve. You will become stressed, become even more isolated, feel lonely and very misunderstood.

To help take care of a patient with Alzheimer’s we have to know how to give him a lot of love, affection and patience. Being harsh or losing your temper will not be good. Let’s put ourselves in the other person’s shoes.

How would we like to be treated? Would we feel good to see that no one dedicates quality time to us? Empathizing will always help us to see the situation differently and to treat a person with Alzheimer’s as they truly deserve.