Caregivers have a lot on their plate, and it can be very challenging balancing caregiving responsibilities while taking care of their own lives and families. Some people with Alzheimer’s Disease may exhibit wandering behaviors and that adds even more challenges to keeping loved ones safe and healthy. Some may attempt to leave their safe environments without supervision or may get lost while out in the community unattended.

At our center, we have a Wanderguard program for memory impaired seniors to help prevent wandering. The Alzheimer’s Association has a Safe Return Program…

When a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, it affects caregivers on so many different levels and few are prepared. The more caregivers care for themselves, the better they can care for loved ones. Here are a few tips from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America:

• Get information about the illness – read books, surf the web, attend seminars, etc.
• Stick to routines.  Changes in schedule or surroundings can cause confusion for your loved one and make things more difficult.
• Share caregiving tasks with others.
• Take time for respite for yourself – do something to make…

In our dementia program, we have some participants that are very high functioning and at times, they remember more than I do! We also have participants in the later stages of Alzheimer’s Disease that have difficulty reading, recognizing numbers and expressing themselves.

We believe and we’ve seen that the more cognitive and physical stimulation we provide, the more the participants respond and improve. One such example is Mr. M — he came to us unable to speak or read. He started coming to our center one day a week and quickly increased to three days per…

Instead of focusing on wellness and maximizing functioning, seniors sometimes focus on illness and loss of functioning. One of our Center’s main goals is to focus on what is feeling well, and using that to help people function as highly as possible. We strive to help seniors and their caregivers feel positive about their level of functioning, skills and talents.

In our program for people with memory impairment, it is very important to help them strengthen their skills and “exercise” their memory as much as possible. Over the years, we’ve observed that the…