Patients and relatives should be cared for early on when planning care for dementia. Can and does the dementia patient want to stay in his own apartment? Does he need help in everyday life, and if so, how much? Who can provide this support? Is accommodation in a nursing home or in an alternative form of living necessary? Read all important information about care planning in dementia!
As early as possible: care planning!
Dementia patients can usually cope with their everyday lives on their own in early and middle stages of the disease, sometimes with the help of relatives. Many can still live in their own apartment. But sooner or later dementia patients need more help in everyday life. Therefore, patients and relatives should inform themselves at an early stage, which offers of help there are and which housing possibilities are in question, if an independent life is no longer possible.
Dementia: care at home
About two out of three people with dementia currently live in their own homes. Especially for older people, the home is usually the center of life. The familiar environment awakens memories and provides security and security – factors that are particularly important in dementia. Therefore, many dementia patients want to stay in their own home as long as possible.
This is usually not a problem in early stages of dementia. Patients often cope with everyday life alone. Only in activities that require a lot of concentration (correspondence with authorities, going to the bank, etc.), they need help from relatives.
Relatives or good neighbors should also see several times a day to the right, when a dementia patient lives alone. You should also make sure that the patient is well-balanced and sufficiently nourished and drinks enough. It may be useful to organize “meals on wheels” for the dementia patient.
Care planning for dementia also includes making sure that the patient’s home is designed to be dementia-friendly. This includes, for example:
- large icons on the doors in the apartment, which signal the use of the respective room (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc.)
- transparent wardrobe doors (make it easier to find desired items of clothing such as underwear or coat)
- Conversion of the stove so that it switches off after a certain time alone (prevention of fires and injuries)
- Light elements in the floor (prevention of falls)
- safe inclusion of cleaning agents (risk of confusion and poisoning)
- Removal of hooks and keys with which the bathroom door can be locked from the inside
The task of caring for a demented person requires much dedication and patience from relatives – and more and more as the disease progresses. The family should therefore consider how much support they can provide and from when external help (such as outpatient care services) is necessary. The attending physician helps relatives with this assessment.
Ambulant care
Relatives who care for a person with dementia are entitled to professional support from an outpatient nursing service. For example, the professionals help patients get up, wash and use the toilet.
The prerequisite for this legal entitlement to an outpatient care service is that the patient has been classified as requiring care and the nursing service is recognized by the long-term care fund. Relatives should inform themselves about the offer of different nursing services before they decide on one. Advice is also provided by self-help groups and the Alzheimer’s Society.
24-hour care
If the support provided by outpatient nurses is not sufficient, but the person with dementia still wants to stay in his or her own home, 24-hour care can make sense. Sometimes local care services offer such all-round care. The monthly costs amount to several thousand euros.
Many dementia patients are also cared for by nurses from Eastern Europe. Relatives should absolutely observe the legal framework and employ the caregiver legally. Illegal work is a criminal offense and can result in severe fines and additional contributions to social security contributions.
Care groups for dementia patients
In many places, group care for dementia patients is offered. The participants meet regularly, for example to eat, sing, do handicrafts or play together. The groups are mostly cared for by volunteers. Participation in a support group usually costs only a small amount (such as for food and drinks).
day care
As part of the day care, dementia patients spend one or more days a week together in a day care facility. Such institutions specialize in the physical and mental care of dementia patients. For example, the patients can cook, paint, craft or, if available, work in the garden. Good facilities ensure that all activities are supervised to prevent accidents.
The cost of day care can be up to 70 euros per day. Up to a certain amount, the care fund participates in this amount – depending on the level of care of the patient. The rest must be paid by the patients and their relatives.
Short term care and preventive care
For example, if family carers become ill or need a vacation, people with dementia who are otherwise cared for at home can be temporarily placed in temporary care facilities.
Alternatively, there is the possibility of preventive care (substitute care) in such cases: The dementia patient is then temporarily cared for at home by a professional nursing service.
The costs for the short-term or preventive care are taken over by the long-term care fund up to a certain amount.
Assisted living
Assisted living can be a suitable form of housing for the elderly: Here, the elderly live in their own senior-friendly apartments of a house or a housing complex. However, depending on your preference or need, you can share meals and take advantage of domestic services (such as laundry service) and care.
Assisted living offers are, under certain conditions, also suitable for dementia patients, namely when they also offer dementia-related services. Patients and relatives should inform themselves in advance.
Advanced dementia: Nursing home
If relatives can not (anymore) provide all-round care for a dementia patient and a 24-hour care is not financially viable, accommodation in a nursing home or alternative forms of living (such as dementia) is a good option.
When choosing a home, relatives should be carefully informed and critically compare offers. In addition to conventional nursing homes, there are also many with special housing and care offers for dementia patients. Such households, residential groups or care oases are tailored to the special needs of demented people and usually have 12 to 20 members. These special offers are not cheap.
Outpatient care for dementia living communities
An alternative to a nursing home may in some cases be a dementia flat. There are usually six to twelve dementia patients living together in a large apartment. Each patient has their own room and can usually bring their own furniture and furnishings.
Other premises such as kitchen, living room and bathrooms are shared. The dementia patients are cared for by professional nurses.
Meanwhile, there are more and more offers for such dementia WGs nationwide.
The care costs
Caring for dementia patients is not cheap, especially when patients need comprehensive assistance and care. In many cases, long-term care insurance contributes to the costs. Whether and how much she pays, but depends on the need for care of the dementia patient:
The medical service of the health insurance companies examines each dementia patient and assigns him a certain level of care. The higher this classification, the higher the subsidy from the long-term care fund to the care costs.
When it comes to the Nursing planning in dementia relatives must consider the amount of this grant and their own financial resources. Because this usually influences the decision on where and how a dementia patient should live and be cared for.