Alzheimer's Care

During early stages of the disease, it may make sense for families to provide personal caregiving for an Alzheimer's sufferer. This can become overwhelming, and at some point, the family may proceed with home health care services or take part in adult day programs. These agencies are equipped to help Alzheimer's sufferers and often have staff with training in the Gentle Persuasive Approach and other professionally objective care strategies. During later stages of the disease, families will probably require the more dedicated care offered in long-term care. Given that diagnoses are terminal, family and caregivers may consider whether or not the care home chosen offers palliative care as part of its service; this allows your loved one to remain in one place for the duration of the disease.

Canada’s Alzheimer’s homes will provide your family member with 24/7 on-site certified nursing and security. Families can rest assured knowing that loved ones are safe and secure. Contrary to the disadvantages presented by remaining in his or her own home, the care given by staff in an Alzheimer’s home will handle the disease’s dangerous symptoms, including wandering, disorientation and confusion. While each home offers unique services (and case-dependent services), there exist some commonalities between most Alzheimer’s care facilities. Almost all such homes have supervision for safety, social interaction with other residents, games, and other types of mental activities. Most importantly, each suite typically contains an emergency communication system.

Although you may use public or subsidized retirement homes, paying for specialized Alzheimer’s care is often worthwhile. Canada’s healthcare system often faces budget shortages and cuts. On the other hand, private facilities, like those above, offer comprehensive care that, in many cases, include relevant, up-to-date amenities such as mobility aids and design for accessibility, or applying the latest memory care design trends. And, private homes will ensure that you know all about the treatments that your loved one is receiving.

Respite care and short term stays
Too few caregivers are aware they can get help from professional memory care services in their area, through respite care stays for dementia sufferers, offered as a service by retirement homes. Care facilities are standing by to help, in fact, and there are often government subsidies to help. The need for respite care is a growing concern in provinces across the country, with increasing pressure put on governments to provide more support for seniors with dementia.

In the province of BC, the Ministry of Health Services offers caregiver relief, including home care services and short term admission to retirement residences. Learn more about respite and short term care in Vancouver. Alberta Health Services has promised to improved its suite of seniors' health care services including short term help to "spell off" caregiver fatigue there. The province of Ontario lists Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) that work closely with home care services and retirement homes to recommend the best support for caregivers and dementia sufferers. The government subsidizes and supports 90 days of respite care per year, with available stays as long as 60 days. Find respite care homes in Toronto.

Memory care is now the accepted term used in many retirement residences to designate the specialized care and facilities for those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Staff specialize in understanding Alzheimer’s patients, symptoms of the disease, and are trained in the latest treatments and therapies. Memory care is the name you will see used by contemporary homes, as a catch-all focused on Alzheimer’s patient care while also adderessing other types of dementia. Dementia can take many forms, and of course, it is not restricted to the elderly. A variety of diseases account for the other 36% of dementias afflicting Canadians – both seniors and others. Below is a brief look, and elsewhere we look in more depth at care for related dementias.

New Alzheimer’s therapies emerge all the time. Retirement homes with memory care facilities are providing front-line research and treatment to help improve the lives of Alzheimer’s sufferers and to even slow progress of the disease. Here are some current innovative treatment and therapy options that your care home or communities near you may have available.

• Music therapy: Listening to particular songs could be a really powerful tool to help people remember past experiences. This has been shown to help keep seniors' minds active and healthy.
• The Java Music Club program was developed in Canada. It's a research-based standardized wellness program that encourages peer support to reduce loneliness and depression associated with dementia (and aging).
• Light therapy — Just brightening your room’s lights during the day could ameliorate your mood and thought processes.
• iPad use.  A number of homes have reported that providing customized iPads for sufferers has beneficial effects. The tablets provide engrossing games that keep minds active. They also help seniors practice dexterity and focus.  
• Socializing — Motti Zelikovitch, director-general at Israel’s Melabev care center, explains that living in a seniors home is ideal for Alzheimer’s patients, as it keeps them socially active.
• Caregivers — A really nice bond between an Alzheimer’s patient and his or her caregiver could also be extremely helpful. Researchers at John Hopkins University and Utah State University found that this relationship may help Alzheimer’s patients retain some their brain function. Many retirement homes have health care on site or allow you to hire home health care providers.
• Brain games and brain gym force your mind into activity. The best games for Alzheimer’s patients involve problem solving. Here, Sudoku and other brain puzzles are fantastic options! It is known that the risk of contracting Alzheimer's is reduced through mental exercise; even after onset, this may slow progress of the disease, according to some sources.
• Art therapy. There are a variety of approaches to art therapy, some of them run by residences in conjunction with local art galleries and museums. According to alzheimer.ca, art therapy programs for Alzheimer’s sufferers (seen in Montreal, for example) offer a “therapeutic approach based on principles of psychology and the visual arts.” These programs encourage Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers to be creative, active participants in the process of art and creation. Programs are shown to improve concentration and fine motor skills, and progress is often visible and demonstrable to sufferers, care staff and family.
• Storytelling therapy offers improvisational brain work and memory care, encouraging freedom to imagine in place of pressure to recall. Storytelling memory therapy helps people with dementia or Alzheimer's Disease to keep their imaginations and minds active.
• Pharmacological treatments include Donepezil, a prescription drug that has been in use since 2002. Other drugs and treatments are slow to market and as of 2016, there are few other prescription memory care alternatives to this treatment, although some drugs are in trial.
• Snoezelen therapy rooms have been in use since the 1990's. These are still regarded as a worthwhile stimulant for dementia sufferers.
• Day programs with a variety of activities provide stimulation and activity tailored to the requirements of those with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

There is occasional new ground broken in Alzheimer’s treatment and diagnosis, but the progress of research into this disease is often slow. As reported from time to time, clinical trials of new drug treatments are rare. The Alzheimer's Society of Canada supports over $4 million of research annually, most of that in funds and grants awarded through its Alzheimer Society Research Program.

Long term care homes are often government-subsidized and provide the eventual solution for those suffering from progressive dementias. However, families seek temporary care in a for-profit home where excellent care and therapies offers peace of mind and can even ease deterioration or offer a temporary respite from symptoms.

This may not be an easy choice to make, as with so many choices that families face concerning Alzheimer's and related dementias. The following provides an overview of costs families are paying for Alzheimer's care offered in these for-profit homes.

The above is only an overview, taken from homes listed here at Comfort Life. Of course, consult with individual care homes to investigate costs and care given.

Paying

There are a variety of ways people pay for Alzheimer's care, beginning with income from Canada's social security system; we offer an overview of ways others pay for seniors' care. If you or your elderly loved one had the foresight to purchase long-term care insurance, this can go a long way toward easing the burden of paying for Alzheimer's care. In the past, Comfort Life has offered case studies of the benefits of this insurance, including Stephen Gadsden's look at the value of purchasing long term care insurance for memory care, and an article by Mary Robertson (both are CFPs) on the projected benefits of purchasing insurance now, for the future.

In general, there is little direct government support to help offset care fees. A typical scenario is that families care for family members at home, then move cautiously into care services, paying as they go. 

Retirement residences often offer payment options tailored to families' needs and abilities. While the lump-sum monthly amount may seem expensive on the surface, people tend to forget the many costs associated with living at home. Regardless of whether someone requires memory care or not, a comparison of the costs of aging at home vs. moving into any kind of retirement care can show that the move into a care home is more reasonable than some might realize. (If families are paying for home care services or are taking time off work to care for an ailing loved one, this adds to costs of remaining at home.)

Paying for memory care is one more difficult adjustment that family members must make, but there are many other people who have dealt with this. You can find support and advice from others near you through your local Alzheimer Society.

Read a case study of how one couple paid for Alzheimer care.

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The lack of a perfect treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease and families' ultimate inability to offer proper care makes long term care an oft-inevitable need for families, especially as the disease is both progressive and degenerative. According to one estimate, more than 60 per cent of retirement home long term care residents live with Alzheimer’s Disease or some other form of dementia. There are also a percentage of people with a dual diagnosis, and this figure also increases annually.

Care today is increasingly client-centric, and as dementias are better-understood, retirement residences offer more specific services that address the memory care needs of each individual. As one care home administrator tells us, "The situation may arise where we need to talk to family members about what services we think are needed. We tell them what we think is required and we put it back on the family to move forward if they want to. We're moving away from 'formatted, one-size-fits-all solutions' that are institution-based. We find out what the client needs and we address that need."

Homes are also well-suited to accommodate couples where one spouse may require memory care while the other is still very much independent, and "they may not want to be traveling all the time to help their spouse get the care they need." Many care facilities today will not segregate couples, situating them so the independent spouse can remain aware of the other's needs. As an added bonus, typical amenities remove the need for meal preparation and housekeeping, freeing up time to spend together, or in the social setting of the residence.

If your loved one has wandering episodes or uncontrolled outbursts, follow the advice of your doctor and other professionals. Medical doctors and social workers will consider your family’s need to keep your loved one at home as long as possible and can advise when it's time to consider the move to dedicated care.

"She was the best mother in the world. That's why I want her to be in a place that's fresh and clean and new - and near me."

Sandra moved her mom into memory care