The Value of Hospice Care to Dementia Patients

How Dementia Patients Can Benefit with the Help Of Hospice Care

As the population of aging adults grows, so does the number of those diagnosed with dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 5.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019. By 2050, this number is expected to more than double to nearly 14 million.

Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability due to disease or injury. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. Other types include Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and vascular dementia.

What Hospice Means

Dementia can be a difficult diagnosis for patients and their families to receive. The disease can be progressive, meaning it gets worse over time. As it progresses, patients may lose the ability to communicate, eat, and take care of themselves. They may become a danger to themselves and others.

Families of patients with dementia often feel overwhelmed and uncertain about what to do. They may feel like they are losing their loved one and wonder if there is anything they can do to improve the situation.

An excellent option for patients with dementia and their families is hospice care. Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on providing comfort, support, and 24/7 private care to patients with a terminal illness and their families. Hospice care can be provided in the patient’s home, in a hospice facility, or in a hospital.

Hospice care teams are made up of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and volunteers. The team works together to provide physical, emotional, and spiritual support to the patient and their family.

How Does Hospice Care Help Families?

Hospice care can help families of patients with dementia in many ways. First, hospice care can provide much-needed respite for caregivers. Caregivers and family members of patients with dementia often must provide 24-hour care. This can be physically and emotionally exhausting. Hospice care can provide relief for caregivers by giving them a break from their daily caregiving duties.

Second, hospice care can help patients with dementia maintain their quality of life. Hospice care teams are professional caregivers who focus on comfort rather than cure. They work to control pain and other symptoms so that patients can best enjoy the time they have left with dignity.

Finally, hospice care provides emotional support for dementia patients. Unfortunately, it is common for dementia patients forget the names or recognize family and friends who love them. Hospice caregivers are experts in communicating with dementia patients and teaching family members how to connect with their loved one. 

Hospice care professionals recognize the mental, emotional, and physical challenges family members face with a dementia diagnosis, and can provide support, assistance, and patience to allow family caregivers to take some time off from their challenging duties.

At Lucky Palliative Services, Inc. our Hospice and Palliative Care program will help manage and coordinate specific, unique solutions for the patient and their family, wherever the patient calls home, at no cost to you.

To learn more about how Lucky Palliative Services can benefit patients with dementia, please call (818)912-6520 for a free consultation.