Dementia Action Week – a little home care support makes a big difference

Dementia has a wide impact on our community, with half a million Australians living with dementia and 1.6 million people involved in their care. Unfortunately, the number of people living with dementia is rising.

But this is plenty of hope. Research is showing that by being a little proactive, getting some care and support, looking after your nutrition, and staying socially connected to your family, friends and community, you’ll be more likely to prevent dementia or reduce the risk of dementia developing further.

Dementia Action Week in 2022 is raising awareness about how a little support makes a big difference. People living with dementia can continue to live well and with good health for many years, even if they are living at home alone.

Our home care workers help many of our clients who may be feeling concerned about their capacity to manage their normal daily activities or who might be finding household chores a little more difficult. We have clients who are experiencing some cognitive decline or memory loss, and clients living with dementia. We support them to maintain their activities and independence and it makes our work so rewarding when we see our clients manage well and enjoy their lifestyle at home, including those that live with dementia.

How does home care help?

Home care help can offer as little or as much support as you would like. A little support can make a difference in how you feel and what you can maintain doing at home.

Our approach to care at St Louis is to support our clients’ independence and to continue living the life they want to live, knowing that we are only a phone call away.

Careful home care planning with you provides goals and structure to help you do all the things you want to continue doing. We support your choices about the way you want to live at home, and help you to stay safe, and active, and to maintain your health while remaining in the comfort of your own home.

For example, you may relate to some of these common scenarios that we find with clients:

You can continue doing the house chores such as washing up, and the laundry, but you may need some help to hang out the larger washing items or some help to put dishes away or mop the floors regularly.
You may benefit from shopping for groceries with someone so they can reach more difficult items on high or low shelves, help reading some of the small print on labels and look for specific products in the supermarket, it may also help to have a support worker work with you to put the groceries away when you get home.
You may not be able to, or have chosen not to drive anymore, to help you stay connected to your community, family, and friends you may want some support to get to the places you would like or need to be. Having someone take you to the places like the supermarket to do your shopping or get to an appointment may relieve the stress and responsibility of asking your family and friends and then having to accommodate trips that fit in their schedules and not always to your plans. You can also continue to be independent with the help of a support worker driving you to places in the community that are important to you. Keeping active with your social groups and community interests is important as it helps you maintain a positive outlook, improve your emotional well-being, and can help prevent dementia.
You may want to meet new people and make new friends. Our monthly social calendars have a variety of social events and activities that are organised based on feedback from our clients and enjoyed by all.
Home care can help you maintain your mobility and strength with personalised or group exercise activities arranged as part of your home care package. Exercise significantly reduces the risk of developing dementia as indicated in the study mentioned above.
If you love your garden but find it hard to maintain, we can arrange for someone to work side by side with you and do the weeding while you get on with the planting or other tasks.
Eating fresh and wholesome food and a healthy diet has been identified to reduce the incidence of dementia, and your care-worker can help you develop new recipes, help go to the supermarket, or help arrange to have preprepared fresh and healthy meals to be delivered if you prefer.
If your home needs rails, steps, or other mobility aids to help you keep moving safely around your home, with an assessment through your home care package these items may be installed. It is important that your home care package supports you to stay safe, mobile, and confident while you are living at home.

Call us about how home care can help people living with dementia

Please phone us to find out more about how a home care package can help you at home if you are living with dementia, or if you want to be proactive and put into place a structure to help you maintain a good quality of life as you get older.

Please call our Adelaide home care team on 8332 0950 or our Victor Harbor home care team on 8552 1481 to discover more about your home care options for dementia care, or to begin your home care package application process.

Want to learn more?