Moving a Relative with Memory Loss
Moving a Relative with Memory Loss: A Family Caregiver’s Guide, by Laurie White and Beth Spencer,2nd Edition, Whisp Publications, ISBN 0-9707609-1-4., 55 pages, 2006
Caring for a person with memory loss at home is a challenging task that can become overwhelming at times. Each day brings new demands and opportunities as the caregiver copes with changing levels of ability and new patterns of behavior. As the disease progresses, the effort required for the caregiving could make the caregiver to think about moving the relative to a facility. This is not an easy decision to make. In addition to the guilt of having abandoned the family member there are additional issues of finding an adequate care facility and paying for it amongst others.
This book helps you to think through the issues involved in making the right decision and implementing the actual move.
Some of the topics covered include the following:
- Keeping a relative at home
- Locating residential care homes
- Talking to your relative about the move
- Planning the move
- Moving in
- Common emotional reactions for new residents and families
Do you take the memory-impaired relative with you when you visit a senior care facility? Do you talk to your relative about the move? How do you structure the actual move day? How do you take your leave on the day of the move? How soon after the move should you plan your first visit? How do you build a relationship with the staff?
The book describes the complex range of emotions caregivers are likely to feel at each stage of the process. Numerous vignettes, developed from the authors’ vast experience in helping families through this difficult process, are especially valuable as a means of illustrating that there are no set answers or predictable outcomes. Successes are measured in small increments.
Whether you are facing this issue with a family member or are a professional working with family caregivers, the information in this book would be valuable.
About the Authors
Laurie White, M.S.W. and Beth Spencer, M.A., L.M.S.W. have both worked with people with dementia and their families in a variety of settings. Currently Laurie is owner of Dementia Care Consulting in Santa Rosa, California and Beth is Director of the Silver Club, a dementia adult day program associated with the University of Michigan. Laurie and Beth are two of the authors of "Understanding Difficult Behaviors".
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