Assisting Dementia Patients with Domestic Chores for Easier Daily Living
Most adults take pride in maintaining a clean, organized home for their family's comfort or to be ready for guests at a moment's notice. We often learn these good housekeeping skills from our parents, who ensured our childhood homes were pristine and neat. However, as our parents age, they may no longer be able to keep up with these tasks due to factors like fatigue, sickness, or physical limitations.
If your loved ones have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, you might notice their housekeeping skills declining significantly. This decline is partly due to the impact of these diseases on cognitive function, memory, planning, and organization.
Dementia and Housekeeping: What You Need to Know
Dementia affects a person's ability to manage tasks and remember to perform them. This can result in a home that's messy, unsanitary, and potentially dangerous. Memory loss is not the only cause of this neglect. Other factors include changes in vision, difficulty moving, easy distraction, and a lack of motivation.
Fortunately, there are ways to help your loved one with dementia keep a clean home, maintain their independence, and maintain their quality of life.
4 Ways to Help Your Loved One with Dementia Keep a Clean Home
1. Empathy
Avoid making them feel incapable by approaching the topic of housekeeping with kindness, patience, and understanding. If you want to help, praise their efforts instead of correcting them. For instance, compliment the food while helping with the dishes, or quickly clean the bathroom when visiting.
2. Involvement
If they're open to help, let them take the lead in cleaning. They might find this a fun activity to do together. Consider hosting a cleaning day with other family members, making it a fun gathering. Assign tasks to each family member, and ensuring there are enough cleaning supplies for everyone.
3. Taking on Heavy Tasks
Take on the heavy housekeeping tasks, like vacuuming and laundry, while they handle lighter jobs, such as dusting and folding clothes.
4. Professional Cleaners
Consider hiring professional cleaners who specialize in helping seniors if the tasks become too much. Check out the professional eldercare team at [our website].
Quality In-Home Elder Care Services in Toronto, Etobicoke, Mississauga, and Brampton
[our website] offers safe, professional eldercare services, including specialized Alzheimer's disease and dementia care, bringing peace of mind to families seeking support. They also provide other in-home services such as homemaking, personal care, activities, and casual companionship. Contact them today for a free, no-obligation discussion about how they can help you with safe, affordable eldercare solutions.
- The impact of Alzheimer's disease and dementia on cognitive function can lead to a significant decline in housekeeping skills.
- Memory loss is not the only cause of a neglectful home in individuals with dementia; changes in vision, difficulty moving, easy distraction, and lack of motivation can also play a role.
- To help a loved one with dementia keep a clean home, approach the topic with empathy, kindness, and understanding.
- If your loved one is open to help, consider hosting a cleaning day and assigning tasks to family members.
- For heavy housekeeping tasks, consider taking them upon yourself while they handle lighter jobs.
- When the tasks become too much, consider hiring professional cleaners who specialize in helping seniors, such as the team at our website.
- Our website offers safe, professional eldercare services, including specialized Alzheimer's disease and dementia care, as well as homemaking, personal care, activities, and casual companionship.
- Contact our website today for a free, no-obligation discussion about how they can help with affordable eldercare solutions for health and wellness, mental health, neurological disorders, and lifestyle, particularly in the home and garden settings.
