Contents
Chapter One: Coming to Terms with Dementia
Testing and Diagnosis for Dementia
Understanding Types of Dementia
Stage 1: Mild or Early Stage of Dementia (Lasts Two to Four Years)
Stage 2: Moderate or Middle Stage of Dementia (Lasts Two to Ten Years)
Stage 3: Severe or Late Stage of Dementia (Lasts One to Three-Plus Years)
Chapter Two: Care Facilities: Making the Right Move
Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs)
Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs)
Alzheimer’s and Memory Care Facilities
Guidelines for Screening Care Facilities
Making the Choice: Our Concerns in Selecting a Care Facility
Meals and Menus in Care Facilities
Social Activities in Care Facilities: What’s Available to Keep People Interested?
Moving to a Care Facility: Dementia and Disorientation
Dementia and Wandering Outside a Care Facility: A Choice of Safety or Independence
Switching Assisted Living Facilities: Making Sure It’s the Right Move
Conflicts with Assisted Living Staff
Lessons About Choosing a Service Area in a Care Facility
Memory Care: First Impressions
What Happens if You Live in a Different State?
Chapter Three: Can we Afford a Care Facility?
Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit
Finances: Do You Really Know What’s Happening?
Comparing Costs: Living at Home or in a Care Facility
Cost Categories in a Long-Term Care Budget
What if a Family Cannot Afford a Care Facility?
Family Conflicts about Money and Caregiving Responsibilities
Chapter Four: Care Facility Agreements
Flexibility in Care Facility Agreements
Talking About Terms with Facility Staff
Attachments and Exhibits to Care Facility Agreements
Chapter Five: Advocacy in Medical Care
Unmasking Mom’s Medication Problems
Taking Responsibility for Someone’s Health-Care
Monitoring a Care Facility’s Medication System
Checkpoints for Monitoring Medications
What Happens When the System Breaks Down
Calming Drugs: Are They the Answer in a Care Facility?
Hearing, Vision, Dental Care, and Mobility
Chapter Six: Hospice and Palliative care
Comfort Care for Dying Patients
The Importance of Educating Families about Dying
Chapter Seven: Advance Directives
Appointing a Health-Care Proxy
Shortfalls of Advance Directives
Five Wishes®: An Alternative to Traditional Advance Directives
Doctor’s Orders: Out-of-Hospital Do Not Resuscitate Orders
POLST: Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment
When to Take Action on Advance Directives
Chapter Eight: The Path Forward
Changing the Way We Look at Care Facilities
Neighborhood Alternatives for the Future
Dementiaville: The Answer to Future Care?
Current and Emerging Technologies
Appendix One: Examples of Cognitive Tests
Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE)
St. Louis University Mental Status Exam (SLUMS)
Appendix Two: Care-Plan Costs and Point Systems in Facilities
Appendix Three: Technologies—Now and the Future
In-Home Remote Monitoring Technologies
Cognitive Fitness Technologies
Chapter One: Coming to Terms with Dementia
Chapter Two: Care Facilities: Making the Right Move
Chapter Three: Can We Afford a Care Facility?
Chapter Four: Care Facility Agreements
Chapter Five: Advocacy in Medical Care
Chapter Six: Hospice and Palliative Care
Chapter Seven: Advance Directives