It’s tempting to label the words and actions of loved ones as “difficult behaviours”. Instead, view this as “communication” and try to identify which basic human need your loved one is trying to meet. Also, try to make positive connections by initiating communication.
By celebrating your loved one’s individuality, you preserve their dignity. Show how much you respect them by:
You and your loved one can strengthen the social bonds that make it easier to be a good carer. Sharing memories helps in a variety of ways:
Allow your loved one to hold a familiar item, one that’s similar to the item you’re using to provide care. This simple act can bridge the gap between feeling a loss of control and maintaining dignity:
We may not have personally experienced all that an older person has gone through, but we all share the same emotions. Tap into your own experiences in order to acknowledge what your loved one is feeling:
For many, the loss of recent memory means that the past begins to merge with the present, resulting in additional communication difficulties. Validation advocates that, rather than trying to bring the person with dementia back to your reality, it is more positive to enter theirs. Try to listen to - and not correct - your loved one’s beliefs.
We continue to monitor the situation on a daily basis, following public health advice. We've a detailed set of criteria to inform when an individual home can be reopened safely to limited visiting either by families of existing residents or by potential new residents who may want to view one of our homes. The majority of our homes are open for admissions.
As part of our approach to reopening for visitors, we'll be operating in a very different way. To minimise the risk of infection we've produced a safety guide.
We'll continue to follow public health advice to determine when visits will return to normal and will continue to do our best to support residents to keep in touch with loved ones.