What do carers do for dementia patients?
The short answer to that is almost everything! Roles and responsibilities of a dementia carer vary, yet practically every task you need assistance with, your carer can help. Whether it’s in your home, on your person, or in the community, your carer can support you to live as normal a routine as possible. They’ll help you to eat well, take your medication, maintain your home, remain comfortable, and manage your personal care routine, all while helping you to make the most of your local community.
Being diagnosed with dementia means that your life will change in some ways, however it doesn’t mean you have to lose your independence or move out of the home you love. By making subtle changes early in your dementia journey it means that, as your condition progresses, you’ll still be able to remain in control of how your daily life progresses. Many people worry after a diagnosis about whether they’ll be able to manage at home and whether they’ll need to uproot themselves from everything they’ve ever known and move into residential care.
That’s not necessary, however, as Helping Hands offers comprehensive dementia care in our customers’ own homes, on both an intermittent visiting basis and full-time live-in care. What’s more, all of our care services are fully regulated by the Care Quality Commission and the Care Inspectorate Wales, so you’ll never have to worry about the quality of the support you’ll receive.
The roles and responsibilities of a dementia carer
In addition to the practical side of caring, the role of the carer when supporting someone living with dementia is to approach how they work on an emotional level. This is because dementia is a very personal condition that can feel as if it’s influencing every aspect of your life, including your relationships with others, your spirituality, and your very identity. Your carer will work hard to make sure that these disruptions are kept to a minimum by supporting you to enjoy the activities you always have done, such as going to church, visiting a favourite café, or a local exercise class.
By undertaking this holistic approach to the type of support their customers need, our carers make sure that the ‘whole person’ is taken care of, not just the practical aspects of care. Other roles and responsibilities of your carer include:
Companionship
Helping you to avoid loneliness and isolation at home
Personal care
We’ll support with showering, dressing, and continence care, for example
Mobility support
Helping you to mobilise around your home and outside
Overseeing medication
We’ll vigilantly follow your medication plan at all times
Household chores
Undertaking your laundry, vacuuming, dusting, and general cleaning
Preparing meals
Encouraging good nutrition to promote your wellbeing
Running errands
Collecting prescriptions and grocery shopping
Condition support
Additional skills training to fully support your medical condition
Enjoying the community
Helping you to make the most of the area you love living in
Do I need a dementia carer?
The question of whether you need dementia care is not something that can be answered lightly; rather, it will probably become apparent gradually as you and your loved ones will recognise that you’re not managing as independently as you used to. You may be against the idea of additional support at home at first, thinking that having someone else in your home will feel like an invasion of your privacy, but believe us (and the thousands of amazing TrustPilot reviews we’ve been left by our customers and their loved ones), you’ll quickly wonder how you ever managed at home without them!
In-home dementia care from Helping Hands
The role of a carer in dementia varies greatly from person to person; after all, every individual living with dementia experiences things slightly differently and therefore, their care experience will differ too. Our experienced dementia carers are dedicated to making sure that you live as independently as possible in the home you love while still being able to make the most of your days and have high-quality experiences.
We value our carers highly because they always put our customers first and go out of their way to make every day a positive experience. We equip them with first-rate training throughout their career as well as development opportunities that can be applied to their role straight away.
We pride ourselves on our dementia courses, delivered in-person or via our very own in-house training academy. That’s how we can be sure that our dementia carers have access to the very latest skills and knowledge, and that they will never stop doing their very best to support you throughout your dementia journey.
