Home Health Care Education & Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Alzheimer's?
A progressive mental deterioration that can occur in middle or old age, due to generalized degeneration of the brain. It is the most common cause of premature senility. There is no known cure. It will progressively get worse over time. Medications are believed to slow the disease progression in most patients. Keeping the brain active as much as possible will slow the disease.

Alzheimer's vs Dementia
Alzheimer's and Dementia are treated by the medical profession the same way, but they are very different from the caregivers perspective. Alzheimer's involves increasing loss of memory over time from the most recent to the distant past. Losing minutes, then days, weeks, months, years, and increasing those years over time. With Alzheimer's patients, the temperament remains largely the same. Conversely, with Dementia the memory loss is more random and temperament will involve mood swings and competitiveness. Alzheimer's patients can be managed in a healthy way with suggestions, while dementia clients are nearly impossible to reason with or direct into health situations. Sadly there is often nothing you can do for dementia patients. Contact me if you have questions on this one.

Facility vs Home Care
You should avoid putting an Alzheimer's patient in a facility as long as possible. Once the patient gets into unfamiliar surroundings the speed of degradation and memory loss greatly accelerates. Prevent them from going on trips (over 2 hours long) or even to the hospital as much as possible. If your Alzheimer's patent lived in his home for 25 years, keep him home as long as he recognizes it. If he recently moved and has already forgotten his new home, you should still try home care until they are constantly trying to leave. At that point, it does not matter where he lives.

Agency vs Private Care
You should avoid agency care as much as possible. Regulations upon the agencies and the CNA/HHA's they employ limit the amount of care they can provide (such as medication management). Agencies often can only work employees so many hours per week, which requires them to staff 3 to 5 caregivers per week. This is very confusing on the patient and increases the memory decline. Hiring a private care non-HHA/CNA (someone without a designation like me) who can work the entire time (or most of the time) will give you the best results. Unfortunately, finding these people is difficult.

When To Take Away The Car Keys?
When regular driving habits or rules of the road start to be ignored, it is time to take away the keys. The way to handle it might be to add a kill switch, so the car can not be started without using the switch. That way you can still let them have a set of keys. Or, you can get a set of keys that does not start the car.

Will You Do Other Home Care?
Yes, I will do non-Alzheimer's care.

Has Alzheimer's - Now What?
You has just learned your parent has Alzheimer's, now what? First collect every insurance policy, bank statement, investment statement, bill, tax return, trust, power of attorney document you can find. Make sure everything is getting paid. Don't let things lapse. See an attorney to get a trust and power of attorney in place. Get help from local agencies and groups that deal with Alzheimer's. They will educate you on what is going on and what to do about it, and/or read the 36-Hour Day. This is a difficult disease and you need to understand it. Make sure you see a neurologist because Aricept and Namenda help. Get or provide help for their daily activities.

Care By Relatives vs Hired Help
Either relatives or hired help can care for your parent with Alzheimer's. If it is a relative make sure they read the 36-Hour Day to know what do and not do. For most relatives it is nearly impossible to do the right thing. You will end up saying and doing things that will increase the speed of the disease. For this reason, most families hire help. It just makes it easier so you can focus on love, not care.

Why Hire Me?
As you have learned from this educational website on Alzheimer's, there is a clear difference between the level of care you get from family members, agencies, HHA/CNAs versus hiring single person to handle the care properly over most, if not all, of the week. You get better management of medications and better overall results with less patient confusion. Very few independent caregivers have extensive knowledge on Alzheimer's care. I have the experience and have worked with wealthy clients for many years. I understand the various needs, situations, and demands better than most in my field. In addition, I can train your staff. Contact me today at AlzGuy@consultant.com.

Why I Focus On Wealthy Alzheimer's Clients
I focus on wealthy clients because they understand, value, expect, and demand a higher level of care. They seek out the best. I have enjoyed many years of making a difference in the industry and have worked my way up the client chain. I am who you are looking for, and I have earned the right to be highly compensated for my work -- the same as your parent did. Let's talk. Contact me today.

When Is It Time To Get Help?
It is time to get help when daily activities such as taking pills, eating, bathing, brushing teeth start getting skipped or when they may wonder away from home and not make it back. You can start with someone coming in at key times if they do not wonder away from home. If they wonder away from home, you will need full time care immediately.

Alcohol
Alcohol does not work with Alzheimer's medicine. If your parent likes to drink wine, you can buy non-alcoholic wine from liquor stores. Simply pour the wine into the normal containers. There are no-alcoholic beers as week, but it is not as easy to disguise. for hard alcohol, look for a substitute and/or water it down.