Helping hand for dementia carers and their loved ones

Living with someone with dementia is never easy. Everyone knows the symptoms; the people you love and care for begin to change in front of your eyes as they lose the ability to think, experience memory loss and you witness changes in their behaviour. It is tough on carers too.

As fulfilling as caring for a loved one with dementia can be, it can also be a hugely emotional, lonely and draining experience, with more and more carers reporting feelings of isolation, according to a recent survey by Alzheimer’s Australia. Here at Careium we know that offering  dementia carers a helping hand is as equally as important as caring for the individuals affected themselves. Many people living with dementia rely on the love, support and care of family members, friends and unpaid carers. And, the number of carers we need is only going to increase as the amount of people living with dementia does.

There are 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to rise to over 1 million by 2025, according to the Alzheimer’s Society.  This will soar to 2 million by 2051.

With 12th September marking National Dementia Carers Day – which was founded by the Alzheimer’s Society, Dementia UK and SweetTree Home Care Services to share, recognise and support this crucial role – Careium will be available to help carers of people with dementia by offering that extra security blanket.

We know that you love your family member and would do anything for them – but we also know that you would be able to do so much more with a little extra help.

Of course it’s not just the elderly that live with dementia. It can impact a person’s life at any age, as recent headlines have shown. It is estimated that there are 42,325 people in the UK who have been diagnosed with young onset dementia.  They represent around 5% of the 850,000 people with dementia. The actual figure could be higher because of the difficulties of diagnosing the condition and might be closer to 6-9% of all people with dementia.

Dementias that affect younger people can be rare and difficult to recognise.  People can also be very reluctant to accept there is anything wrong when they are otherwise fit and well, and they may put off visiting their doctor.

For instance, we at Careium were able to help Arthur care for his wife June. She had a diagnosis of early dementia and had left the house without saying where she was going. Arthur was helped with a comprehensive telecare package which included a smoke alarm, wrist strap falls detector, lifeline unit, keysafe, pressure mat, universal sensor and door exit sensors.