Often when a loved one develops dementia, and becomes in need of assisted living in Red Deer, the focus is on the impact on the loved one. However, the impacts of dementia are far reaching, and there are many ways that dementia can impact families, such as:

• Strong Emotional impacts


• Lack of Help


• Lack of Understanding

Strong Emotional Impacts

The most common emotions that dementia can bring out in family are feelings of guilt, grief and anger. Guilt may be brought on from feeling helpless to help your loved one, or from past behaviour or history. Families may also feel a sense of guilt of putting the loved on in a dementia care home. Anger can emerge from a feeling of frustration, or even annoyance. You may also feel grief at the loss of the person that you knew, as the dementia takes over.

Lack of Help

Another impact on families of dementia is the stress and problems that arise from dealing with it. Many families may feel that there is a lack of help and support, and not be able to handle the stressful situation. However, outside of assisted living, there are other support services available, such as the Alzheimer Society of B.C. Often this impact can be mitigated through education and exposure to what resources and help are available for families.

Lack of Understanding

Perhaps the biggest impact on families is the lack of understanding, especially in younger children. Witnessing the change in functioning with a person with dementia, especially a loved one, can be traumatic and difficult to process. Children may not understand what is happening, and have difficulty comprehending the change in their loved family member. Reassure children that everything is ok, and you may need to bring in counsellors or other professionals to help with coping.

Dementia is a terrible disease, and affects not only the victim, but also the family and friends. Recognizing some of the impacts that this disease has on the family can help to make the situation easier to manage. Remember to stay together as a family, and support each other through this difficult time.

What’s Unique About Dementia Care

One of the challenges faced by dementia caregivers is the possibility of confusion about time or place that may be exhibited by a person with dementia. With this in mind, staff at dementia care communities are trained to handle and respond appropriately to this behavior, such as by having tasks or activities ready to go that direct attention away from this and to a more positive behavior.

The staff at a dementia care community are also trained to act appropriately should they be faced with aggressive behavior or speech. Often, this involves identifying the cause of what is bringing on this aggression, and working to once again shift focus away from this to a more positive activity or behavior.

Respect and Dignity

At the core of dementia care is a sense of respect and dignity. Dementia is a devastating illness for not only the person suffering from it, but also their family and loved ones. Recognizing this, and always acting appropriately, patiently and respectfully is therefore at the core of every interaction in a dementia care community. The number one priority is allowing the residents to keep their sense of dignity.

Dementia is a terrible disease, and affects not only the victim, but also the family and friends. Recognizing some of the impacts that this disease has on the family can help to make the situation easier to manage. Remember to stay together as a family, and support each other through this difficult time.