Tips for Everyday Care

Tips for Everyday Care for People with Dementia 

Early on in Alzheimer’s and related dementias, people experience changes in remembering, thinking, and reasoning in a way that affects their daily life. Eventually, people with these diseases will need more help with simple, every day, tasks. This may include bathing, grooming, and dressing. It may be upsetting to the person to need help with these simple but yet personal activities. Below are some tips to consider early on and as the disease progresses. 

• Try to keep a consistent routine, such as bathing, grooming, and eating at the same time each day. 

• Help the person write down to do lists, appointments, and events in a calendar for them to easily access. 

• Plan activities that the person enjoys and try to do them at the same time each day. 

• Consider a system or reminders for helping those who must take medications regularly. 

• When dressing or bathing, allow the person to do as much as possible. 

• Buy loose fitting, comfortable, easy to use clothing, such as clothes with elastic waistbands or pull-on shoes. 

• Use a sturdy shower chair to support a person who is unsteady and to prevent falls.  

• Be gentle and respectful. Tell the person what you are going to do, step by step, while you help them bathe or get dressed. 

• Serve meals in a consistent, familiar place and give the person enough time to eat.