Understanding Home Health Care

Illnesses like dementia and Alzheimer's can rob people of their ability to remember. When you have a loved one who has been diagnosed with one of them, you want to do everything in your power to help him or her recall things like faces, names and memories for as long as possible.

However, you and others in your family may lack the training and skills needed to help your loved one adjust to his or her illness. Instead, you can benefit him or her by enrolling your relative in a professional memory care program.

Maintaining Brain Pathways

Skilled memory care focuses primarily on maintaining pathways in the brain that are responsible for remembering. Dementia and Alzheimer's disease destroy these pathways. They progressively attack the brain's functions until the sufferer can no longer recall even the most basic of details, such as his or her children's names or his or her address.

While there is no cure for these diseases, there are ways to slow their progression. Part of slowing the impact that they have on a person's brain involves undergoing memory care services. These services involve the affected person taking part in a variety of activities that are designed to strengthen brain pathways and help the person remember longer.

Card Games and Crafts

The activities found in memory care can involve playing card games like Go Fish or Uno. These games, while seemingly elementary, become more challenging as a person cognitively declines. However, the challenge involved with them helps patients with tasks like remembering numbers or looking for patterns. It also directs people's focus on the game and strengthens the signals in the brain that are responsible for memory. 

Another activity that patients engage in is arts and crafts. The focus on making a craft likewise exercises patients' brains. When they concentrate on making something, patients may be more likely to focus and remember things better.

Respite Care

Finally, professional memory care provides a respite for the patient and his or her caretakers. People with dementia and Alzheimer's disease are often challenging to care for. They suffer from anxiety and fear and can be prone to behaviors like wandering. Memory care providers take over patients' care for several hours each week to give caretakers a break.

Memory care can provide valuable services to your loved one. It helps them to recal things better and provides you with a brief respite.