How Can WeCare+ Help? Part II

Brian contacted WeCare+ and Leanne, a registered nurse and a care coordinator with Long Term Solutions, became his primary resource for helping his mother. He felt comfortable disclosing all of his concerns with her as she was a registered nurse. He wasn’t sure his mother was being completely honest with him on the phone, and he was concerned there was a bigger issue going on. He knew eventually her dementia would worsen, but he hadn’t planned for this yet. She had been successfully living independently up until now, and he had become comfortable with that. He came to the conclusion that he hadn’t planned appropriately. After their conversation, Leanne contacted a local RN in Florida named Ashley to go to conduct an onsite assessment. She advised the RN that she needed to keep three goals in mind: assess her current living situation, make recommendations for her current care needs, and anticipate her future care needs.

Ashley conducting the assessment quickly realized that Brian’s concerns were genuine. What Brian wasn’t able to discern from a distance Ashley saw in an instant. Like many other people with cognitive impairments, Linda had been able to camouflage many of her symptoms. As an eldercare expert, these discrepancies were something that Ashley was trained to pick up on. She was quick to discern that Linda’s objections as an indication of something more: ‘oh I can’t recall that right now,’ ‘my son already knows about that,’ or ‘of course I take my medications.’ However, when Ashley looked at her medication box she noticed that the only pills missing were Saturday’s. These incongruities in her stories and the conversation with Brian indicated that the dementia had progressed.

Ashley provided Leanne with her assessment, and Leanne followed up with Brian within 24 hours of the visit to discuss Linda’s current and future care needs. Leanne recommended home health aide services on a daily basis, as his mother needed help with medications, bills and other house tasks. There were also safety concerns that a home health aide would be able to address. For the future, Leanne encouraged Brian to consider some different types of facilities for his mother that would offer increased supervision and assistance. Together they put a plan in place for if her dementia worsened, and they successfully gave Brian comfort in knowing he was taking care of his mother. Leanne’s correspondence with Brian didn’t end there. They agreed to follow up every few months to see how his mother’s dementia was progressing, and alter her caregiver services if necessary.