Alzheimer’s Disease creates emotional and financial catastrophe for many Canadian families every year. Fortunately, a large amount of progress is being made to combat the disease.
What Is Alzheimer’s Disease?
The most common form of Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive, degenerative disease that attacks the brain, causing impaired memory, thinking, and behavior.
The varied problems and anxieties associated with Alzheimer’s Disease can occur at any time of day or night. Clients with Alzheimer’s Disease often require 24-hour care and supervision, most of which is provided in the home by family and friends. Therefore, families often become the primary caregivers. In addition to the tremendous stress of providing care, families also bear most of the financial burdens of the disease.
How Does Caregiving Affect Social And Family Life?
During the course of the disease, clients might wander, hallucinate, and become suspicious. This behavior can place a large strain on the caregiver as well as deteriorate social and family relationships and eventually burn the caregiver out. Ultimately, it can take a toll on the caregivers’ health. They become the second victims of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Clients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease are often treated as if incapable of understanding or of making decisions. However, clients’ wishes for information about their condition should be respected. At Accela Staff, we allow full participation in their care and a continuing sense of self-determination and self-control. Families can rest assured that their loved ones are taken care of, day and night. This removes great stress from the family of an elderly person who can no longer care for herself.
