77 Year-Old with Dementia

Mr. N is a 77 year-old man with moderate to advanced dementia. His family contacted us, looking to move him from another city, to Portland to be closer to his family. Mr. N’s wife had recently passed away and he was living in a city with no family members nearby…

We initially toured three communities together, some were stand-alone memory care communities, and others had assisted living and/or independent living on the same campus. All of them would meet Mr. N’s needs, but his daughter felt most positive about the third community we visited. She went back with her sister to revisit that one, and they put down a deposit to hold the available room.

5 Tips for Communicating With Someone Who Has Dementia

How do you communicate with someone who has dementia? [su_row class=”genRow”][su_column size=”1/2″] There’s nothing more challenging than caring for a loved one with dementia. People with dementia have a brain disorder that makes them incapable of remembering things, thinking clearly or communicating with their friends and family. They are also prone to mood swings and … Read more

zeth@greatnessdigital.com November 14, 2016

Moving Into an Adult Foster Care Home Allows Wife to Go From Family Caregiver to Spouse Again

Mary’s husband John had early onset Alzheimer’s. Mary still worked full time so she hired caregivers to come a few hours each day to ensure he had meals and was safe while she was gone. When she got home from work she had to fix dinner, help him shower, clean the mess he made throughout the day, get his medications and meals ready for the next day, do laundry as he often had accidents. Mary heard him get up several times during the night which interrupted her sleep. Realistically she knew he was just going to get worse but she had hope that he would at least stabilize. He wasn’t improving, unfortunately he was definitely getting worse. Mary knew she couldn’t continue to work full time and worry all day about his safety. She couldn’t afford to pay for caregivers to be with him the whole time he was at work yet she couldn’t afford not to. Mary was exhausted emotionally and physically. She couldn’t do it anymore and turned to Right Fit Senior Living Solutions for help…

We met with both of them to determine their ideal situation. She wanted him to live in an adult foster care home in nearby Tualatin so she could visit him on her way home from work in Portland. She liked the idea of an adult foster care home as there would be four other seniors living with a private family who is very experienced with being caregivers and working with people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. He would get a lot of personal attention in a quiet, calm and safe home. She liked that their food is all made from scratch and that they would manage his medications, do his laundry and help him shower.

From Assisted Living to Adult Foster Care

Sometimes an adult foster care home is a better option. Mr. T is an 85 year-old blind man who was living in an assisted living community. Because of his vision issues, his dementia, and his being confined to a wheelchair, it seemed assisted living just wasn’t the right environment for him. He was not participating in activities with the other residents, he stayed in his apartment most of the time, and he simply required too much care compared to the other residents in the community…

His daughter contacted us to see what other options were available for her dad. She loves her dad and wanted him to be happy and feel safe and secure in his living space. What seemed to be a lovely assisted living community when she moved him in, turned out to be the wrong environment for her father. So we started looking at much smaller senior living communities: adult foster care homesAFH

zeth@greatnessdigital.com October 29, 2014

Couple Moves to Assisted Living

Mr. and Mrs. F were living in their own home but finding it increasingly difficult to take care of themselves. Their daughter lived nearby but had a full-time job, and she came over and helped out on a daily basis. After working all day, she went to their house and cooked for them, helped them clean up, and gave them their medications. She hired in-home care, but Mrs. F did not want a caregiver in her home and resisted it. Their daughter was feeling burned out, and she called us for help in finding placement for her parents.

zeth@greatnessdigital.com October 14, 2014