Parent Has Dementia And Wanders? Hire A Home Health Caregiver

It is common for people that have dementia to wander, which may mean your parent will wander away from their home to a street or get lost outside. If you want your parent to stay home, you must take steps to ensure your parent is safe. One way to do this is to hire a home health caregiver. Below are some things they will do to assist you to prevent anything from happening. 

Make Your Home Safe

The home health caregiver has knowledge of working with dementia patients and will know how to make your home safer for your wandering parent. The home health caregiver will make sure there are proper locks on the doors. For example, the doors should have locks that are difficult for your parent to unlock.  

There are wandering alarms that can be purchased for dementia patients that wander. There are motion sensors so you are alerted if your parent wakes, pressure-sensitive mats that you can place on the floor, as well as door and window monitors. With these devices, an alarm is triggered that can be heard throughout the home so you can even be woken up if you're asleep . 

Hire a Full-time Night Home Health Caregiver

In the beginning, you may only have to get up every few nights with your wandering parent. Over time, things may become much worse, and you find yourself getting up several times a night. At this point, it will be difficult for you to properly care for your parent as you will be too tired. At this point, you may feel like you have to place your parent in a facility. To prevent this, you can hire a home health caregiver that will stay at your home overnight to deal with your wandering parent for you. The caregiver will ensure your parent wanders safely throughout your home and gets back to bed safely when they become tired. 

Hire a Day Time Home Health Caregiver

You may want to consider hiring a home health caregiver to come to your home during the day as well. They can help with many tasks, such as bathing or showering your parent, dressing your parent, and helping them go to the bathroom throughout the day. They may help with feeding your parent ensuring they are getting the proper nutrition needed, as well as make sure they are taking their medications if they are on any. 

There are agencies that you can contact to hire home health caregivers or ask your parent's doctor if they can make a recommendation.