COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
When a loved one is
diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia it can be devastating, but a
local organization is hoping a new approach to care for those diseases may
help.
Officials with Home Instead Senior Care in
Richland County say 60 to 70 percent of Alzheimer's patients are still living
at home, and they say there's a new program that's helping caregivers and
families take care of patients.
"We know that families experience two
significant challenges," said Rene Kilburn of Home Instead Senior Care. "One is
how to engage the mind of the person with the Dementia or Alzheimer's Disease,
and the second to deal with some of the behaviors that come out of it."
But those challenges may be a little easier
to handle during the caretaking journey. Rene Kilburn, the president and local
franchise owner of the Home Instead Senior Care in Columbia, says the
organization's new "Alzheimer's CARE Program" utilizes a journal called
‘Capturing Life's Journey' that centers on learning all about a patient's past.
The company believes it will help caretakers and families better take care of
their patients.
"We actually have an exercise we go through
to capture those experiences and we can use those experiences to actually
engage them and help manage their behaviors," said Kilburn.
Kilburn says because Alzheimer's and Dementia
patients don't have short term memory, so trying to live in the now can cause
them to become frustrated. She adds the new program focuses on asking questions
about a person's past and existing memories to develop ideas for daily
activities.
"When you find the thing that lights them up
you'll know it," said Kilburn. "You'll see it in their face, they'll talk about
it [and] they'll get energized, so you know it's something to hold onto and use
as an activity."
Caregiver Linda Allman knows that firsthand.
Her mother has been battling dementia for 5 years, and Linda says this new
approach has already made a big difference "The other day, I had her snap green
beans and she hadn't done that in years," said Allman. "So I knew that
back there in the recesses were those things."
Officials with Home Care say those little
moments will go a long way into helping make the present battle more of a
‘thing of the past.' "By understanding that some of the behaviors like
repetition or confusion over today's schedule that they can't help, it lets
families let go of that expectation and can take some of that frustration and
angst out."
To learn more about the "Alzheimer's CARE
Program" visit www.helpforalzheimersfamilies.com.
Home Instead Senior Care says they will also be offering free training classes
for families in the near future. For more information call, (803) 736-4242.
