Children often face a heavy dilemma when it comes to placing one of their parents in any type of long-term living facility. But there are some cases where you’ll have little to no choice but to do so. One of these cases is when the parent in question is starting to suffer memory loss or significant cognitive decline. Unless you have the resources and time to take care of the person yourself or someone to attend to their needs 24/7, then assisted living with memory care may be your last and only option. Let’s take a look at some of the signs that you may need to consider memory care for an elderly parent.
They overestimate their Capabilities
If you know that your parent has some dementia or memory loss issues, do not trust them when they tell you they can handle things themselves. You can never truly trust a person that has these sorts of issues, and they’ll often feel like you’re trying to control them. They often forget that they even have memory issues. This is how sad and difficult to deal with these kinds of situations can be.
You will need to have a sit down with the members of your family and have your parent’s doctor explain to them exactly why they can’t be autonomous anymore and remind them of the episodes they’ve had before. Only then they will be open to other options, and you should start introducing the idea of taking them to a memory care facility.
They Lost their Partner or they’re exhausted
If the parent in question is living with their spouse or a partner, then you should consult with their partner and see if they can still handle all the responsibilities. Don’t take their word for it either. Try to spend a day with them, look at all the tasks they have to perform, and ask yourself if it is something they can actually handle for much longer.
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If you feel like it is too much, try to talk about moving into a long-term living memory care facility together. You could go to a memory care center like the Catholic Care Center, which will allow them to live in the same quarters and engage in activities with the rest of the community. This will instantly improve the quality of life for both your parent and their partner and take some stress off their shoulders.
They’ve had multiple memory-related incidents
If you’ve had to pick up a relative after they got lost or they’ve had multiple instances when you had to take them to the hospital because of memory or dementia-related symptoms, then it’s a clear sign that you need to start thinking about memory care. Again, the only exception here is if you have someone who can not only take care of them 24/7 but either go on errands with them or go for them.
At this point, it would almost certainly be better to have them in a facility where they’ll have the support of a whole team and community around them.
Placing a family member in memory care is not always an easy decision, but you have to think about the future and have your parent in the best setting possible. And there aren’t too many places better for an elderly parent with cognitive decline than a great community with top-notch memory care services.
