Among the battles faced by families with a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia is deciding if and when to take them out of their own home to a facility.
In March, Alzheimer’s expert Susan Scanland visited Senior Star at West Park Place Toledo to give a seminar titled, “Seniors: When to Make The Move.” Scanland has given more than 500 such seminars on Alzheimer’s and dementia in more than 40 states in her 30-plus year career. She currently consults at a long-term care center in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where she evaluates residents and can make dementia recommendations for the medical and nursing staff.
There are a number of reasons it’s hard for both the patient and family to “make the move” from the home to a care center, Scanland said.
“Number one I think is the hesitancy to leave one’s homestead, where one’s been for many years,” she said. “Number two is often the negative stereotype of community senior living. … Many families fear they are institution-like.”
Scanland, who has spoken at West Park Place several times, said that is often the furthest thing from the truth.
“It’s not the nursing home, but people often have that negative stereotype,” she said, explaining many places offer the ability for a couple to stay under the same roof but still provide the needed care for the partner with Alzheimer’s.
“Very often there are so many emotions when an older person has to put their loved one in a nursing home because they can’t take care of them,” she said. “But they can live together, and contract to bring private-duty nurses in. So a couple can be more independent longer and live together longer than if they were at home.”
The third reason it’s hard to move a loved one from their home into a care center could actually be higher on the list for many families, Scanland admitted.
“Guilt is a huge emotion when it comes to placement,” she said. “So many families have told me that this is the hardest decision they ever had to make in their lives. The problem is, often they’re making it without adequate information. … Often too, there are disagreements between adult children about what to do about mom and dad because there’s a lack of information.”
In her Toledo talk, Scanland said her purpose was simple — to educate about existing options.
“There are reasons why home sweet home may not be as safe or as wise a choice as they think it is,” she said.
Scanland identifies seven areas to consider when determining if it’s indeed time to “make the move” or “kiss the guilt good-bye.”
• Pedestrian and driving risks — Even persons with mild dementia are more likely to makae decisions that can result in them getting hit by a vehicle, Scanland said.
“Having fender benders, getting lost while driving are huge red flags,” she said. Oftentimes, dementia patients may depend on another passenger’s “copiloting” to get them from one place to another while driving, Scanland said.
• Nutrition and hydration — Scanland did house calls on dementia patients for years and would often find freezers full of ice cream and other junk food, with no vegetables. Older people often lose their sense of thirst and don’t get enough to drink, she said.
• Medication mixups — People over 65 are four times more likely to have reactions to medications than younger people, Scanland said. Dementia patients are more likely to confuse medications — blood pressure and diabetes drug mixups can be particularly dangerous, she said.
• Falls — “Often older people think it’s OK if they fall,” Scanland said. “It’s not OK that they fall.” Falls contribute to 16,000 deaths in the elderly each year, she said. One out of three people over the age of 65 are at risk for falling, while half are at risk if over 80 years old, she said. She has seen many cases where dementia patients were lying on the floor for one to two days after falling.
• Elopement (walking/driving away from home) — 75 percent of dementia patients wander from their home at least once, Scanland said.
• Isolation/loneliness — People who get depressed after the age of 65 are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s, Scanland said.
“Just because you have dementia, sitting in front of the TV all day with no social interaction and no people, it’s not good for the brain,” she said.
• Financial exploitation — Scanland called it a silent epidemic, pointing out studies suggest four or five unreported cases of elderly scams to go along each one that is reported.
Kirsten Pickle, executive director of West Park Place, said the program on the seven areas to consider was well received by both seniors and their families.
“I think those things are important because nobody wants to leave their home, but it’s also hard to be objective on reasons why you should,” Pickle said. She said the average age of a West Park Place resident is 86. She pointed out statistics suggesting 80 percent of people over the age of 85 have some form of dementia, even if just mild cases.
“The most important thing that people need to understand is to move them earlier,” Pickle said. “The earlier the move, the easier it is on the senior and the more successful they will be in their new surroundings. … If they move here earlier, they’re usually able to stay here a lot later because they’re settled in so well. If you wait too long, your loved one usually ends up in a nursing home.”
Scanland said the purpose of her visit to Toledo was to replace confusion with information.
“When you look at the facts and gather information, it does take a lot of the guilt out of the equation because then the whole shift can be an incredibly positive experience,” she said.
For more information, visit dementiaconnection.com or call West Park Place at (419) 972-2280.
