At some point, all of us who are caregivers to Alzheimer’s patients are going need extra help in fulfilling our duties as caregivers. There is just no way around it. With the extra dimensions and problems that caregivers have to face and deal with, it is next to impossible for us to handle every problem and every situation all on our own.
Maybe your patient needs a little more expert care than you are able to give; perhaps he or she is in need of medical attention that only a trained in-home skilled nursing services company can provide.
Perhaps you as the primary caregiver are in need of respite services, services that are available to you so you can take a break from your caregiving duties. Maybe you need to make a doctor’s appointment for yourself, or a dentist’s appointment. Or maybe you need to go out and do some grocery shopping, and there is no one to take care of your patient for you.
Never forget: it is also important that you take care of yourself. Caregiver burnout occurs all too often in almost every one of us who is a caregiver to an Alzheimer’s patient.
You cannot and should not feel guilty that the task of being a caregiver sometimes becomes unbearable for you at times. It happens to all of us at some point or another.
The good news is that there are companies out there that can provide caregivers the breaks and the expert medical services to use as we need them.
Let’s take the aspect of medical services as an example. Sometimes our patients are in need of more help than we are qualified to give. There are so many different medical problems that our patients may be experiencing, in addition to Alzheimer’s, about which we have no expert knowledge, the types of services that only a trained expert nurse can give.
If we want to give the best possible care to or patients, we need to enlist the help of these experts and utilize their services. That’s why they are in business. They have identified a need and they have come up with a business model to fill that need.
Now let’s look at the need for just taking care of ourselves, and making sure we keep our own health in mind. If we only make sure our patient is getting the best care that we can provide and not think about our own health and well-being, we will eventually not be of any good to anyone, not to our patients, and not to ourselves.
“Respite care” is the name of what you need when you need a break from your daily routine of being a primary caregiver. As we said earlier, if you do not make your doctors’ appointments, dentist appointments, or just to take a break and be with friends for a little while, you will not be giving the proper care to your patient. If we really want to be the best caregiver we can be, we need to keep our own health and well-being in tip-top shape.
There are many companies across the country that offer in-home skilled nursing and respite care services. Not all are created equal and not all offer services to every part of the country. There are big differences between companies and the services that they offer.
Just a sampling of some of the services offered are:
- Disability care
- Personal care
- Skilled nursing
- Geriatric car management
- Nursing assessment
- One-hour visits
- Live-in care
- Respite care
- Shower or bed bath visit
- Medication reminders
- Meal preparation
- Housekeeping
- Transportation to doctor’s visits
- Alzheimer’s and dementia care
- Licensed RNs and LPNs
- Companion/ Homemaking
Because each state regulates this industry, not any one company or any one person can fill the needs of every case.
The Alzheimer’s Research Association (ALZRA) has combed the country to find the best of the best in the in-home skilled nursing and respite care services industry. We have researched and qualified every company that we recommend.
If you would like to learn more on how some of these companies can help you with your caregiving duties, please fill out the form below, and we here at the Alzheimer’s Research Association will see to it that a qualified expert in a representative of the in-home skilled nursing and respite care services industry contacts you to answer all the questions you may have.
The information you provide to us will be treated with the utmost respect and with your confidentiality guaranteed by the Alzheimer’s Research Association. You will only be contacted by an expert in the field that you have requested information for. We value our members and visitors, and continually to strive to earn your trust.
There is no cost or obligation for this service.
”Please check the box or boxes of the type of information or service you are most interested in, so ARA can direct the right professional to you, for your specific request.”
