Tips help Alzheimer’s patients during holidays

An Alzheimer’s support group leader discussed preparation for holiday stressors during a November meeting at Maison Jardin Senior Living Community in Morgan City.
Licensed clinical social worker Keith Weisheit leads monthly group meetings with caregivers and family members of Alzheimer’s patients. The discussion topic for November focused on the holidays.
The goal is to set up Thanksgiving Day as a “good day” for the family member suffering from Alzheimer’s.
“We’re not going to change them, we’re going to manage them,” Weisheit said.
Weisheit has been studying the impact of Alzheimer’s for 23 years.
There are three things that are important to keep in mind and to communicate with family when there’s going to be a large group around a loved one with Alzheimer’s during the holiday season, Weisheit said.
—Approach them from the front. Most people with dementia have peripheral issues and it gets worse as it progresses.
—Always introduce yourself.
—Be aware of a loved one’s stimulation level and try to reduce it — specifically the noise level.
“There are so many people affected by dementia,” Weisheit said. “There are nine different types of dementia.”
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the nine types.
“We spend a great deal of time and energy talking about some practical and real life experiences that can help people better deal with the frustration that comes with dementia,” Weisheit said.
“We provide a great deal of education and understanding of the different types of dementia. We talk about how they differ from each other and more importantly, we talk about the signs and symptoms that they can be aware of and the different stages of how dementia progresses.
“So the family members are a little bit better prepared,” Weisheit said.
Group member Kim Aucoin has a relative diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“It helped me 100 percent,” Aucoin said. “It’s very beneficial to go and prepare yourself.”
Whether a family member has the disease or not, attending the support group meetings helps people to know the signs of the disease, Aucoin said.
“One of the scariest statistics is 33 percent of the caregivers who provide care for someone with dementia will die before the patient does because of caregiver stress,” Weisheit said. “Almost one-third of the caregivers actually will have complications and a death prior to the patient with dementia.”
People are living much longer with a number of the dementias because medical care has improved.
Support services are provided through Synergy Home Care, an affiliate of Kindred at Home.
With the relationship Synergy has developed with the Alzheimer’s Association, there are now support groups in four locations. Groups meet once a month in Houma, Lockport, Thibodaux and Morgan City.
Support meetings are educationally based with a different topic each month.
The support group at Maison Jardin has been meeting for about three years. It meets monthly every third Wednesday at 1 p.m.
November is Alzheimer’s disease awareness and Caregivers Month.
President Ronald Reagan designated November as National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month in 1983. During that time, fewer than 2 million Americans had Alzheimer’s.
Today, there are nearly 5.4 million with the disease.
The Alzheimer’s Association list 10 signs of early detection as:
—Memory loss that disrupts daily life.
—Challenges in planning or solving problems.
—Difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, work, or leisure.
—Confusion with time or place.
—Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships.
—New problems with words in speaking or writing.
—Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps.
—Decreased or poor judgment.
—Withdrawal from work or social activities.
—Changes in mood and personality.
“People don’t typically die from dementia,” Weisheit said. “They die from some other complication as their body and brain continue to disconnect from each other.
“There’s very little joy that I get more than being able to help a family member understand what’s happening to their loved one and get them connected with the resources to make their life a little easier. And it’s touched my own family, as well,” Weisheit said.