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Nursing Homes: Choosing what's best.Read the article this discussion is about
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» biogardener - Nursing home checklist. The most important aspect of looking looking after an Alzheimer loved one is to keep her doing the things she was used to doing in the past. Those will vary from family to family. Besides the great checklist which you linked, I made my own checklist of the activities which had been an important aspect of my mother's life.This list included the following:
I made sure that the nursing home in which I placed her provided these items which were important to her and us and I involved myself in those activities as much as I was able. -- posted by biogardener » Karen_Largent - Thank you Traute You have brought up a point I totally missed. I agree it's very important to have your loved one engage in their favorite activities as long as possible. Familiar activities, music, hobbies, can keep the sufferer oriented to self, and spark memories. Thanks for your input!-- posted by Karen_Largent » biogardener - All are different. That is the first thing I learned from attending a weekly Alzheimer support group:If you can keep the person occupied with familiar activities, they can continue a fairly normal satisfying lifestyle. The rest of my family, who only saw her occasionally, did not even want to believe that my mother had any dementia, even after 20 years of suffering. She appeared too normal and was able to carry on great conversations. No one knew that much of what she was talking about with such sincerity was not based on fact, but was a bluff to cover up her loss of memory. My mother did not lose her intelligence, although other patients do. She only lost her memory. She could understand whatever I explained to her, but 5 minutes later, it was gone. Actually, the first thing my mother lost was her sense of responsibility. She would take off while babysitting my son and not comprehend what was wrong with it. And that after having been a wonderful mother to 6 children of her own. -- posted by biogardener » Karen_Largent - Once again.........great input Traute Thanks again Traute. It's interesting how Alzheimer's affects each person differently. You were instrumental in your mother maintaining such a "normal" life for so long, you kept her interested in her world. She continued to do things that she herself enjoyed. You had great insight into what was right for her. Many, or maybe even most families do not want to face the facts of Alzheimer's. Thanks again for your thoughts and memories.-- posted by Karen_Largent » Karen_Largent - Thanks! Thank you Ken, this is an older article but information that bears repeating quite often. Lately in the broadcast media I have been seeing many reports of abuse in our nursing homes. Some of the reports were very shocking and frightening. It makes me sad that we as a nation cannot revere our elders as the Chinese or other Eastern countries do. We can only hope that these abuses can be stopped. Being a whistleblower is one way and people should not hesitate to do so!Perhaps whistleblowing would be a good topic for an article. Maybe my readers have some insight into the problems of elder abuse in our care facilities. -- posted by Karen_Largent
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