by Michelle Shelly

Created on: February 16, 2009   Last Updated: February 21, 2009

Mom or Dad has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and you've made the decision to care for your parent with Alzheimer's. You have a difficult road ahead of you but it can be done.

Do you have children? Do you remember what it was like taking care of your child when he or she was about 18 months old? Think of the level of care that you parent needs or will eventually need like that. You will need to baby proof your house. My mother had Alzheimer's Disease. I was just a teen but remember that we couldn't leave her home alone. She would try to cook and almost burn the house down, she used to cheek her food (shovel in bite after bite holding it in her cheeks) and risk choking so I had to feed her. She needed help bathing so my sister helped her. I've seen Alzheimer's patients actually forget how to WALK. Here's a checklist of the things you need to do to be a decent care giver to your parent with Alzheimer's.

Baby Proof Your Home You wouldn't leave a sharp butcher knife in reach of you two year old. Don't leave it in reach of your parent with Alzheimer's. With a two year old, it's easy to put things out of their reach. That may be a bit more challenging with you parent so you'll need to hide things like that. Lock doors to rooms that are off limits, unplug your electric stove or blow out the pilot flame on your gas cooking stove.

Make Some Purchases

You're going to have to buy a few things. Dig out that old or buy a new baby monitor to keep an extra ear open. Child proof the kitchen cabinets and drawers. Buy some games to keep your parent's mind active as well.

Take A Nursing Assistant Class

The more you learn about properly taking care of your parent the better. Their condition will get worse. They will become more and more dependent on you as time goes by. You need to know how to transfer them from a wheelchair to their bed or the toilet. You need to know how to properly help them walk and how to properly feed them. These are things you'll almost certainly need to help them with eventually if not already.

Take A Break

Taking care of your parent with Alzheimer's is a full time job with endless overtime. You'll need to take a break on a regular basis. Make sure you have the funds to hire a respite worker. A home care Nursing Assistant or Home Health Aid who can come in once a week or more to take care of Mom or Dad while you go grocery shopping, run errands, etc but also while you do something for YOU. Go to the gym, take in a movie or go to a concert. After all that hard work, you need some ME time.

Support Groups

Contact your local hospitals and nursing homes, use the Internet, and find an Alzheimer's support group on your area. There are a lot of people who share your pain and are going through or have gone through what you are now. Reach out. Help is out there.

Hopefully, this article help you. God bless you to taking on this responsibility and do not be ashamed if it's something that you eventually cannot handle. Good luck.

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