Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease can bring unique challenges to everyday tasks, including getting dressed. While it’s not the same as caring for a child, it can sometimes feel similar to those battles you had with a toddler who refused to wear anything but diapers. Now, however, it’s a full-sized adult who may be difficult to reason with.
This is where Alzheimer’s home care can make a difference, offering support and guidance to ease these daily struggles.
Alzheimer’s Home Care Providers Can Help with Everyday Tasks
When caring for a loved one, each daily chore or activity can easily become much more complicated and exhausting. Having a professional who is trained in caring for Alzheimer’s patients come to your home to assist is a great way to provide you with a bit of relief, and some recommended Alzheimer’s home care tips.
Each person who has Alzheimer’s disease has different parts of their day that are tougher than others. An Alzheimer’s home care provider can customize their care of your loved one to help during those more stressful times, such as getting dressed.
Five Tips to Make Getting Dressed Less Stressful
Getting dressed doesn’t just occur in the morning. It can occur after bathtime, after a bad spill, after some time spent outside, and before bedtime. If your loved one struggles with these transitions, a helping hand provided by an Alzheimer’s home care provider can provide the support everyone needs to easily help your senior change out of one outfit and into another.
#1 Don’t try to rush it
While you might be used to grabbing your clothes, putting them on, and heading out the door, your loved one may need a little more time to process each step. Don’t wait until 10 minutes before you have to leave home to suggest getting dressed. Offer your loved one lots of time to get dressed so you don’t begin to place undo stress on them to hurry up.
#2 Give options, but not too many
You don’t have to provide options for every piece of clothing, maybe just the shirt and/or pants. With those items, offer 2-3 options and not the entire closet.
By providing options this way, your loved one still has a say in what he’s going to wear but you don’t have to worry about him choosing something inappropriate and then having to tell him no (such as picking out a wool sweater on a 90-degree day).
#3 Make sure clothes are easy to put on
The more your loved one can do on his own, the better he’ll feel. Stock his closet with pullover shirts and loose pants. Choose shoes that don’t need to be tied and jackets that can be zippered instead of buttoned.
#4 Allow for modesty
If your loved one doesn’t want to be watched as he puts on his undergarments, turn your back and allow him to have privacy as needed.
#5 Be okay with mismatches
So long as an item isn’t completely inappropriate for the weather or something, allow your loved one to make some unique combinations in his outfits. You may not love a specific shirt, but if he does and wants to wear it to church, it’s okay to let him.
With assistance from an Alzheimer’s home care provider and using some of the tips above, you might discover that dressing gets a little less stressful with your loved one.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Alzheimer’s Home Care in Elkins Park, PA, please contact the caring staff at Better Care Home Health Services today at (267) 766-5218
Better Care Home Health Services is a Trusted Home Care Agency serving Philadelphia, Germantown, Glenside, Elkins Park, Bryn Mawr, Roxborough, Wyncote, Broomall, Upper Darby, Yeadon, Lansdowne, Narberth, Wynnewood, Penn Wynne, Fairmount, Ardmore, Chestnut Hill, and the surrounding areas.
Better Care Home Health Services is a family-owned agency dedicated to providing excellent and comprehensive home health care to individuals and families of Philadelphia, Delaware, Montgomery and Bucks counties. We are honored that God has blessed us with the opportunity to positively impact and change people’s lives. It is our mission to ensure that we provide the very best of care to our clients.
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