There is help for Dementia, Alzheimer and Parkinson patient caregivers!
Contact your doctor and ask for Hospice. Dementia, Alzheimers, and Parkinsons have now been added to Hospice and it is such a blessing. It will then open up other new possibilities of care such as CCSP and caretaking help at reduced costs. Hospice itself does not help the day to day care but it does help with no longer having to take the loved one out of the house for doctor visits and such. They send a visiting nurse once a week to take care of their health/physical needs and there is always a physician available to them. Someone comes in up to 3x's a week to bathe the loved one and change beds, they provide all medical needs including medicines, pull ups, personal care products and chucks for the bed. Hospice by itself does not do everything that is required for caregiving but just having someone to ask questions and realize you are not alone or the one with dementia, as I sometimes think, is a wonderful help. They are there for the family as well as the loved one. They also provide a week of respite every month or two in one of their facilities to give the caregiver a break. I encourage anyone feeling down about caregiving to please, please, please - do this for yourself. If you are turned down by Hospice, wait 6 months and try again, this is a deteriorating disease and they will pick your loved one up on their program soon. It took the second try for my mom, she got in under cardiac and dementia reasons. Hope this helps someone else. Blessings!
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My husband did not have to give up his primary care doctor -- I contacted her by phone once during the hospice period.
Anyone interested in Hospice Care, which is for persons within the final stage of their lives, should contact a local hospice organization for information about how exactly they work in your location.
Hospice is a wonderful concept, and it should be considered for persons in the final stage of their lives from any cause -- cancer, dementia, congestive heart failure, etc.
The original poster made it sound like there was some major change in policy....or, perhaps, with some paperwork dance, caregivers could get some help for the 9 1/2 years before "the end." I am hopeful there might be some relief for caregivers. ...but honestly the country would go broker than it already is if they were to pay for help for the increasing numbers of these patients (as the babyboomers hit senior years there's an expected explosion of cases).
My mother went on hospice after she broke her hip. She also had dementia. She improved sufficiently on hospice that she was removed from that program. She still has dementia, of course. But there are no indications that she is close to death.
Hospice is paid for by Medicare. To be eligible, a physician must certify that the illness is terminal and if it runs its usual course will result in death within 6 months.
For persons in the end stage of dementia, hospice is an awesome option.
It would be lovely if they would include late stage AD.... God knows I could use a week away
Thanks for more info.