The government is launching an experimental program to ease the burden on caregivers of people with Alzheimer's. The idea is to keep patients healthier without exhausting their families.
The government is launching an experimental program to ease the burden on caregivers of people with Alzheimer's. The idea is to keep patients healthier without exhausting their families.At 80, Rose Carfagno of West Norriton, Pa., was charming, social and independent, still working as a hair stylist and going ballroom dancing every weekend.
As Carfagno’s mental and physical losses continued, the burden on Corcoran grew. She bathed and dressed her mom as well as the kids each day, took her to myriad doctors’ appointments, talked her through delusions in the middle of the night. Every day, fresh chaos. In Medicare’s version, each family will get a care coordinator — a sort of coach trained in dementia care, who knows the patient and the caregiver and can offer guidance and troubleshoot problems before they escalate. The coach or other member of the care team will be on call, 24/7. They will also help coordinate doctors visits and identify some adult day care or in-home care for the patient for up to a few hours a week, to lighten the caregiver's load.
Hart’s mom, Sydney Pfaff, 80, a retired nurse, was reluctant to give up control of her daily medications. But after Hart saw pills scattered all over the floor of her mom’s apartment one day, she tried to appeal to her mom’s sense of reason. “It may help them a lot, and yet still not necessarily be the thing that prevents them from ultimately deciding, ‘You know what? I just can't do this anymore. And I need a nursing home.’”
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