You may know ALS better as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. ALS stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that impacts the spinal cord and brain. It’s incurable and leads to a loss of muscle control and movement. May is ALS Awareness Month. It’s an educational month designed to bring awareness to this disease that can slowly progress for upwards of a decade or be faster and only have a mean survival time of fewer than five years. An in-home care specialist can be on hand to help you with the day-to-day care of your senior.
ALS is a fatal disease that ends up taking away a person’s ability to speak, move, eat, and breathe. When your parent has it, it’s devastating. Senior home care aides become an essential part of your dad’s support team.
What Can You Do to Help Your Dad?
How do you best help your dad? Start by learning as much about the disease as you can. The more you know, the better it is for both of you. Join a support group to have the emotional support of others who understand what your family is going through.
Build a strong support team for your dad. He needs help with activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. He’s going to need someone with him day and night to help with housekeeping, bill paying, shopping, and home organization.
He’ll reach a point where he cannot get out of bed without help. He’ll use a wheelchair to get around the home. You’ll need to set your dad’s house up so that it’s accessible for a walker or wheelchair.
Install grab bars sooner rather than later. They’ll help him get on and off of the toilet. Grab bars also help your dad get in and out of the shower. A shower seat offers him more freedom to take a shower on his own for as long as possible.
How Do Senior Home Care Aides Help Out?
What symptoms is your dad experiencing? The progression of ALS determines what his current care needs are. In the beginning, he may need support while he moves around the home and gets in and out of the shower.
He may need someone to handle the driving and help him during shopping trips and appointments. The time will come when he needs someone to feed him, help him in and out of bed, and assist him with toileting.
Caregivers also provide you with respite care services. You’ll have a professional caregiver available to take care of your dad while you go away for a long weekend or stay home to rest. You might come down with the flu or a bad cold and need to stay home and recuperate. Respite care helps you with that.
Arrange Senior Home Care Today
Talk to a senior home care specialist about having caregivers helping your dad with ambulation and transfers, transportation, meals, and personal care. You can assist your dad with as much as you have time to do, but you have peace of mind that he’s cared for when you’re taking a break or working.
Incredicare is a Trusted In-Home Care in Oakton, VA, serving Arlington, Alexandria, McLean, Reston, Burke, Ashburn, Centreville, Springfield, Oakton, and Woodbridge Virginia. And the surrounding areas. Call today to speak with our caring staff: (703) 272-8838
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