What is Alzheimer’s Disease?

The primary symptom of Alzheimer’s disease is dementia. This is defined as the gradual decline of cognitive functions in an individual, such as the memory, communicative skills, or the ability to reason.

Dementia affects the patient’s intellectual and social skills quite drastically, until  daily life becomes difficult.

Alzheimer’s disease is also the most common form of dementia.

It is a degenerative disease with no cure, primarily affecting individuals over age 65. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s, the patient will likely be able to live on their own and function independently. However, it is the nature of the disease to get progressively worse. Eventually, the sufferer will become unable to care for themselves.

Is Home Care Possible For Alzheimer’s Disease?

Often, the families of Alzheimer’s patients will wish to keep their loved one at home, rather than send them to a hospital or other facility. This is possible, especially in the early stages. However, being the primary caregiver for your family member can be extremely taxing both emotionally and physically. It also requires a lot of time and an almost super-human abundance patience. If these primary family caregivers get little or no time to themselves, it is not uncommon for them to experience exhaustion or depression.

Because the disease is degenerative, the symptoms of Alzheimer’s escalate over time, moving from causing cognitive difficulties to creating other medical issues that gradually break down the body.  Eventually, professional treatment will be required.

Karp Home Care offers sensitive, truly caring caregivers that specialize in working with patients suffering from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. They can provide you with a daily or weekly break or be present on site in your home full time.

Whatever your needs, we provide specialized home care services in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Tri-Cities, North Vancouver, Surrey and Langley.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about our home care services.

You can call us at 604-420-7800 or fill out our contact form HERE.

Karp Homecare also provides custom care for other degenerative musculoskeletal and neurological disorders, including Huntington’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, and ALS.