What Role Does the Family Play in Dementia Care?
Family involvement is an important part of any care plan, but especially a dementia care plan. Whether your loved one is living in a care home, such as our homes across Bournemouth or Poole, or is receiving care at home, family plays a crucial role in their care.
As you will know, those living with dementia face several specific challenges, most of them cognitive, as their cognitive functions start to decline. This can be unsettling for your loved one, which is why you, as a family, should be a part of their care.
Your involvement will have a physical, emotional and mental impact.
At LuxuryCare, we have several specialist dementia care homes where we value and emphasise family as part of the care plan. Each of our residents gets a bespoke care plan, which we work with you and other relatives and friends to create. In this, we include your role in their care.
In this blog, we share how and why your family involvement is crucial in dementia care.
Benefits of Family Involvement in Dementia Care
Your involvement, and that of other relatives and loved ones, has many benefits for your loved one living with dementia.
- Emotional wellbeing
- It helps reduce feelings of loneliness.
- Creates a sense of familiarity and security.
- Cognitive stimulations
- Seeing familiar faces and hearing familiar voices can improve memory and recognition.
- Family visits encourage and inspire storytelling and engagement.
- Enhance the quality of life
- Family members being engaged cultivates a supportive and loving environment.
- Sharing activities promotes happiness and reduces anxiety.
- Emotional wellbeing
How Can You Be Involved In Dementia Care?
As a family member with their loved one in a care home, it can feel difficult to feel or be part of their care. However, it doesn’t have to be.
Things that you won’t even bat an eyelid at are you being involved in their care. For example, visiting them and taking part in activities with them is all part of it.
There are so many ways you can be involved, and most of them go beyond sitting in care plan reviews.
Here are some ways you can play a role in your loved one’s dementia care.
- Regular visits – be consistent and bring activities that they enjoy.
- Communication with staff – share personal insights and details about your loved one with staff, keep an open line of communication with them at all times and participate in planning.
- Join events and activities – attend events that are put on by the care home and join activities, be it the day-to-day activities or special occasions.
- Support their emotional needs – listen to them, and reassure them, validate their feelings when they are feeling disorientated or anxious.
- Advocate their needs – make sure they are receiving the care they need, but also make sure they aren’t being over-cared for so that they still have some independence.
- Stay educated – learn about the progression of dementia so that you can be there to fully support them at each stage.
- Provide practical support – some care homes won’t provide all the necessary personal hygiene necessities, so help out by bringing in their favourite body wash, some toothpaste or even some clothing.
- Engage in meals – join them for meal times and use them as an opportunity to reconnect with them.
If you aren’t sure about how you can support your loved one, the staff in their care home and their care plan, you can always reach out to the carers and ask. They will always be happy to sit down with you and help figure out a way that you can be involved in your loved ones’ care.
Family Involvement at LuxuryCare Homes
At LuxuryCare, we are passionate about getting the family involved in the care we provide their loved one.
To us, it doesn’t matter how this looks. We will work with you to find a convenient way that also keeps your loved one at the centre of their care.
The foundation of this is maintaining open communication between our staff, yourself, and your loved one. We believe that keeping the lines of communication open and free enables everyone to feedback and discuss what is going well and how things could improve. This in itself encourages you to be involved in your loved one’s dementia care.
All of our homes also have an open-door policy, which allows you to visit whenever is convenient for you. We understand that strict opening hours make it difficult for you to visit your loved one, so if you fancy popping over after work, feel free. Or maybe you have a lunch break and can drop in for some tea, we will welcome you in.
On top of this, we love to see family members join our meal times and activities. The more the merrier is our philosophy – we just need to know you intend to eat with us so that our chefs can make enough food!
The final way we encourage family involvement with dementia care is by making sure they are included in any care planning. We find this encourages everyone’s communication to stay clear and open, and also makes sure that you understand and are aware of our approach to dementia care, and the care in place for your loved one. This means you can feel empowered to feedback changes, highlight anything we are missing, or simply share a preference your loved one might have.
We consider your involvement in our care planning vital as it allows us to provide the best care possible for your loved one.
Family involvement makes a massive difference to the quality of life and care your loved one will have.
If you want to learn more about how we encourage your involvement with dementia care, book a visit to one of our care homes today. Call us on 01202 037373 or complete our online contact form and we will get back to you to arrange a visit.
