How A Home Health Nurse Can Help Your Parent With Dementia

When you have an elderly parent that you care for, you may struggle to ensure that they always have everything that they need and that they are safe and secure in their home. This care can be especially difficult if your parent also suffers from dementia. As their dementia progresses, you may find yourself struggling to keep up with all of their needs and monitor them as their their confusion, wandering behaviors, and other symptoms increase. If you are wondering what you can do to handle this situation, get to know the ways that a home health nurse can help you and your parent.

They Can Be Your Eyes When You Are Not Around

If you ever want to leave your parent's house simply to run errands or get some time to yourself, you may find yourself feeling panicked for taking time away from your parent and leaving them in a vulnerable situation. This can make your life difficult and more stressful than necessary.

Hiring a home health nurse, on either a full-time or part-time basis, can remedy this issue. You will be able to leave the house knowing that your parent is being properly looked after. Your parent will also have immediate assistance if a problem arises when you are gone.

They Can Administer Medications and Take Care of Difficult Care Tasks

Dementia patients often take a lot of medication. Sometimes, they are not always cooperative about taking their medications. Or, they may be unable to take their medications orally due to their dementia progression.

A home health nurse works with dementia patients, and these professionals ensure that their patients take their medications--even if they can't swallow pills. Because they are licensed health care professionals, home health nurses can change IV bags and administer medications via injection or in liquid form as necessary and ordered by a doctor.

Other basic care tasks, such as bathing, can also be taken over by the home health nurse. This can help relieve you of some of the more uncomfortable or difficult care tasks, allowing you to feel better about the situation and avoid any embarrassment for you or your parent.

These are just a couple of reasons why you should consider hiring a home health nurse to care for your elderly parent with dementia. You will find that the extra support and the professional expertise of the home health nurse will improve your quality of life, as well as the quality of life of your parent. To learn more about home health nurses, talk to companies like First In Care Home Health Agency Inc.