How to be a Smarter Family Caregiver
If you’re a family caregiver of a loved one with memory loss, you’re not alone. According to the New Jersey Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, over half a million older adults in New Jersey experience some form of cognitive decline. With over 200,000 aging at home, family caregivers are in good company. Even if full-time professional care is out of reach for your family, affordable help is available.
Family Caregiving in the Digital Age
Caring for an independent loved one with cognitive decline means balancing your own peace of mind with their desire to age in place. Thankfully, you’re in the Digital Age of Family Caregiving – which means you have access to digital technology that’s anywhere, anytime, and makes you smarter about their care. A Digital Caregiver answers the two most important questions every family asks: “Is my loved one safe and well RIGHT NOW?” and “How can I keep my loved one living independently for as long as possible?”
Is My Loved One Safe and Well Right Now?
Part-time services and family visits mean your loved spends much of their time unsupervised. Dementia stays after the caregiver goes home, so an older adult is at risk any time they’re left alone. A Digital Caregiver is technology in the home that works 24 hours a day to immediately alert a family caregiver’s phone if a loved one may be at risk. It works silently, continuously, and is practically invisible.
The best products use a loved one’s behavior when they’re home alone – wandering, elopement, confusion, sleeping, waking, toileting etc – to determine when an older adult may need immediate help.
How Can I Keep My Loved One Living Independently Longer?
Behavior is an excellent marker of risk. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine reports that behavior is the most significant determinant of health – even more impactful than medicine. When a Digital Caregiver uses an older adult’s behavior to assess risk, the behavior information saved, analyzed, and reported by the system is clinically relevant. This treasure trove of information may uncover alarming new behaviors, behaviors that have quietly changed over time, or even unseen symptoms of illness. Smart family caregivers share this behavior information with doctors and care professionals to ensure diagnoses and care decisions avoid unreliable self-reporting or an incomplete picture.
Choosing a Digital Caregiver
Behavior Discovery is how the best Digital Caregivers make your care smarter. Behavior based Digital Caregivers have already helped doctors diagnose UTIs and dehydration from unusual toileting behavior. Wandering, elopement, and day/night confusion discovered by Digital Caregivers have resulted in an increase of social services for older adults. Behavioral symptoms of insomnia have led to diagnoses and treatment for sleep apnea. Even anxiety has behavioral symptoms discovered by Digital Caregivers.
Caregiving Made Smarter
The envoyatHome Digital Caregiver is an affordable addition to any care plan. Full-time digital care is affordable for families of older adults who are alone at night or can’t meet the minimum service hours required by home care agencies. By supplementing “high touch” with “high tech”, families can actually afford 24 x 7 care.
Family caregiving in the Digital Age is mobile, smart, and affordable. For more information about the envoyatHome Digital Caregiver, contact Right at Home Central New Jersey or click here.
Because after all, they still have dementia after the caregiver leaves.
