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| When Someone You Know Is Living in a Dementia Care Community
ISBN: 9781421420660
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / Johns Hopkins University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Long-term care facilities; Older people; Dementia;
Gerontologist Wonderlin provides a helpful guide to residential long-term care for dementia patients. Dementia care communities (DCCs), commonly part of facilities with assisted-living and skilled nursing units, are staffed 24-7 to deliver care. The author explains that dementia is an umbrella term for many different diseases with different but related symptoms, including Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal lobar dementia, Korsakoff's (amnestic syndrome), and Huntington's disease. In part one, Wonderlin covers long-term care options, dementia diagnoses, and deciding when a DCC is appropriate; part two covers communicating, acknowledging a patient's confusion, and understanding why the patient may be happier in the past or an imaginary world. Part three highlights daily activities and considerations about setting, diet, and hygiene. Part four discusses managing friendship, romance, and sexuality, plus coping with "sundowning," or evening agitation. Part five deals with some thorny issues: aggression, delusional thinking, aphasia, and stress. Every chapter features personal stories about patients and their families, welcome insights, and strategies for assessing the benefits and drawbacks of placing a parent, partner, sibling, adult child, or friend in a DCC. Oddly, the volume lacks lists of resources, recommended reading, or support groups. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Rachael Wonderlin holds an MS in gerontology from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She has served as memory care director in several long-term care communities around the country and is the author of the blog Dementia By Day. |
