Other Symptoms Of Utis
If the person has a sudden and unexplained change in their behaviour, such as increased confusion, agitation, or withdrawal, this may be because of a UTI.
These pages explain what a UTI is, the different types of UTIs, their symptoms and treatments, and gives tips on how they may be prevented.
They Put My Daughter On The Wrong School Bus Luckily She Had Angelsense
AngelSense really came through for us today. First day of kindergarten and just when I started to relax, it was 3:00pm.
Time for my little one to get home. Long story short, THEY PUT HER ON THE WRONG BUS! Only because of AngelSense, I was able to make calls and get this baby home. Thankfully, she had no clue. And was happy to ride along.
Research All Your Options For Your Loved One With Dementia
Creating a safety plan and using tracking technology can help you minimize the dangers of dementia symptoms, specifically wandering. If you know your loved one is at risk, think of scenarios that might create confusion and figure out ways to stay aware of their whereabouts a device from the list above may be a solution.
For those in the advanced stages of dementia, long-term memory care in a secure environment may be a safer solution. Specialized memory care units generally have professional care in a standalone wing or in a secured area of an assisted living facility with 24-hour supervision. The physical layouts of dementia care units are even specially designed to be easy to navigate, which further minimizes the likelihood of wandering.
If you need help finding a suitable option for a loved one with dementia, reach out to a Senior Living Advisor at A Place for Mom for tailored, local advice. They can help you navigate potential home care or memory care options, and their advice is always free.
Original article by A Place for Mom editor, Danny Szlauderbach.
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Tips To Reduce Nighttime Restlessness
Improve sleep hygiene. Provide a comfortable bed, reduce noise and light, and play soothing music to help your loved one get to sleep. If they prefer to sleep in a chair or on the couch, make sure they cant fall out while sleeping.
Keep a regular sleep schedule. Be consistent with the time for sleeping and keep the nighttime routine the same. For example, give the person a bath and some warm milk before bed.
Keep a night light on. Some people with dementia imagine things in the dark and become upset. Stuffed animals or a pet may also help soothe the patient and allow them to sleep.
Place a commode next to the bed. Walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night may wake the person up too much and then make it difficult to get back to sleep.
Increase physical activity during the day to help your loved one feel more tired at bedtime.
Monitor napping. If the person seems very fatigued during the day, a short rest in the afternoon can lead to a better nights sleep. But keep naps short.
Limit the patients caffeine, sugar, and junk food intake during the day.
Prevention Against Wondering Around
Elderly parents tend to get lost or confused due to the onset of dementia. These tracking devices for seniors with dementia can even perform location monitoring. This can help you track their whereabouts every hour of the day.
Through the apps geofencing capabilities, you can even set zone alerts. This allows users to set boundaries around locations that your elderly loved one frequently. This will cause the app to sound the alarm and send alerts that mom or dad has wandered from their typical route.
The most exciting part about tracking devices is versatility. Whether you need to keep a close eye on your kids, or elderly parents and grandparents, GPS trackers will do the job.
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What Should I Do If My Loved One Gets Lost
Like any emergency, having a plan in place before it happens will increase your chances of finding your loved one.
- Make sure they have some form of ID on them like a medical bracelet or necklace. These should hold details like who they are, where they live, and a brief description of their medical history.
- Tell others around you about your loved ones condition. Neighbors, local police, and friends nearby may be able to help search your loved one. Have a recent photo handy in case theyre missing for more than 24 hours, and keep track of what they wear day to day.
- Enroll them in the MedicAlert safe return program, which can create a customized missing persons report and share it with first responders.2
Manage Stress In An Alzheimers Or Dementia Patient
Different stress-reducing techniques work better for some Alzheimers patients than others, so you may need to experiment to find the ones that best help your loved one.
Exercise is one of the best stress-relievers for both the Alzheimer’s patient and you, the caregiver. Regular walking, dancing, or seated exercises can have a positive effect on many problem behaviors, such as aggression, wandering, and difficulty sleeping. Indoor shopping malls are vast walking opportunities protected from the weather.
Simple activities can be a way for your loved one to reconnect with their earlier life. Someone who used to enjoy cooking, for example, may still gain pleasure from the simple task of washing vegetables for dinner. Try to involve your loved one in as many daily activities as possible. Folding laundry, watering plants, or going for a drive in the country can all help to manage stress.
Remembering the past may also help calm and soothe your loved one. Even if they cant remember what happened a few minutes ago, they may still clearly recall things from decades ago. Try asking general questions about their distant past.
Use calming music or play your loved ones favorite type of music as a way to relax them when agitated. Music therapy can also help soothe someone with Alzheimers disease during mealtimes and bath times, making the processes easier for both of you.
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What Are The Benefits
Portable location devices and trackers can provide many benefits for families dealing with dementia. First and foremost, they can offer caregivers peace of mind, knowing that their loved one is safe which, in turn, reduces stress and anxiety.
Second, tracking devices can help provide dementia patients with a higher level of independence and confidence. This is of particular importance, especially in the conditions earlier stages. As time passes and patients begin to fear the unknown, trackers prove to be a great comfort for those who wander off or become confused.
Finally, location devices and trackers can help keep impaired patients active and engaged. By knowing their location, caregivers can ensure their patients get enough exercise, which is vital for physical and mental health.
Spy Tec Mini Gps Tracker
The Spy Tec STI_GL300 Mini Portable Real-Time GPS Tracker is perfect for seniors who want to remain in control of their surroundings. The real-time location tracking, accuracy and data storage all come standard with this device so you can relax knowing that no matter where life takes them, everything will go according to the plan!
SpyTec is an industry leader in meeting consumer and enterprise GPS tracking needs with high-tech GL-300 real-time GPS tracking devices.
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Tips For Caregivers And Families Of People With Dementia
On this page
A caregiver, sometimes referred to as a caretaker, refers to anyone who provides care for another person. Millions of people living in the United States take care of a friend or family member with Alzheimers disease or a related dementia. Sometimes caregivers live with the person or nearby, other times they live far away. For many families, caring for a person with dementia isnt just one persons job, but the role of many people who share tasks and responsibilities. No matter what kind of caregiver you are, taking care of another person can be overwhelming at times. These tips and suggestions may help with everyday care and tasks.
How Do You Stop Dementia From Overeating
Ways to help manage overeating Make sure the person is well hydrated as they may be mistaking thirst for hunger. Ensure they have a drink with their meal if possible. Leave bite-sized fruit or healthy snacks, such as chopped bananas, orange segments or grapes, within reach for the person to snack on when they want to.
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Reasons Why People With Dementia Wander
Task Oriented:
Pain, discomfort and agitation: Emotions can be reason to wander. They are not happy in their present situation so if they move to another location maybe those symptoms will not come with them. But in actuality, they are wandering.
Loss of Memory: When people become disoriented due to their present thoughts disappearing, their reality being blurred or seeking places that were once familiar to them, they wander looking to go back to those comforting and safe places. They are searching for their past.
Disorientation: They may wake up at 5 in the morning and not know if it is day going into night or night going into day. They will leave their surroundings to seek the answer.
How Do They Work
Many types of dementia location devices and trackers are available on the market. Some can be worn as a pendant or bracelet, while others can be carried in a pocket or bag or even worn in shoes. Some wander preventatives can even be installed in the home, such as floor mat alarms or door sensors.
Portable location devices and trackers for dementia use signals to track the patients location. The device then forwards this information to a receiver, a smartphone computer app, or a standalone base station.
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Tips For Everyday Care For People With Dementia
Early on in Alzheimers and related dementias, people experience changes in thinking, remembering, and reasoning in a way that affects daily life and activities. Eventually, people with these diseases will need more help with simple, everyday tasks. This may include bathing, grooming, and dressing. It may be upsetting to the person to need help with such personal activities. Here are a few tips to consider early on and as the disease progresses:
- Try to keep a routine, such as bathing, dressing, and eating at the same time each day.
- Help the person write down to-do lists, appointments, and events in a notebook or calendar.
- 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, fabric fasteners, or large zipper pulls instead of shoelaces, buttons, or buckles.
- Use a sturdy shower chair to support a person who is unsteady and to prevent falls. You can buy shower chairs at drug stores and medical supply stores.
- 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.
The 10 Best Gps Trackers For The Elderly
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The number of people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease is expected to rise to 75.6 million by 2030, and 135.5 million by 2050 . Dementia and other similar conditions often cause older adults to become confused or lost in both familiar and unfamiliar places.
If an aging loved one becomes lost or disoriented at times you may want to consider utilizing a GPS locator or a wearable device in order to track their whereabouts and find them in an emergency. The development of GPS medical alert systems has changed the way the elderly receive round-the-clock care while living at home. The changing technology does offer comfort for caregivers and autonomy to the elderly.
The use of GPS Trackers for the elderly such as those offered by Medical Guardian, AngelSense, Pocketfinder, iTraq, Spy Tec, SPOT, GPS SmartSole, Trackimo, and Bay Alarm Medical can bring your aging loved one safely home and provide greater peace of mind for caregivers and family members of people with dementia.
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Dealing With Nighttime Wakefulness And Pacing
If your loved one paces at night, make sure they have a safe room in which to do so, or have another caregiver take over at night. You need your rest, too. In the later stages of Alzheimers, you may want to consider a hospital bed with guardrails.
Some dementia patients have difficulty getting or staying asleep because they arent responding to day and night transitions. Adding bright light exposure during the day and melatonin supplements at night may help to improve their sleeping patterns.
Small Dimensions And Be Lightweight
Dementia symptoms affect not only mental but also physical functions of the body. It gets much more challenging to coordinate and wear anything, so the chosen GPS device should be mobile, light, and small. It must also be easy to notice. So buy a bright case to make it colorful and less likely to be lost.
Yet ideally, it’s better to prefer GPS tracking safety apps over physical devices. They don’t burden dementia patients with wearing a separate device since a mobile phone is enough.
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The Best Gps Tracker For Kids With Autism
Autism Parenting Magazine knows what parents with kids with autism need. They recently awarded AngelSense with The Best GPS Tracker for Autism title. compiled a list of the best GPS tracking devices for kids and ranked AngelSense the Best for Special Needs.
If you have a child with autism spectrum disorder , you already know there is a high risk that he/she might try to elope, or wander off without permission. For such parents, a GPS tracker is not a luxuryits a necessity.
The most important part of the app is tracking, and that works very well. You get an accurate location of your child all the time. It has both the map and satellite view. The app also provides you with the entire history of your childs whereabouts, which is helpful. The tracking screen gets a big thumbs-up.
How Can Gps Tracking Help People With Dementia
Dementia causes many issues for the person suffering the disease as well as for their family members and care providers.
One of the main traits of dementia is a loss of memory which in turn can cause confusion in the sufferer. This can often lead to patients wandering off and getting easily lost. For many dementia patients, this can mean they are isolated in their homes by family members keeping them locked in to avoid them going out and getting lost.
This is understandable, especially when caregivers are not able to be there 24/7 to keep an eye on the sufferer, however many studies have shown that being outdoors and retaining social interactions can reduce the memory loss symptoms associated with dementia.
This is where GPS tracking comes into help.
A small GPS tracking device, such as the GPSBob Pebble Tracker, can be easily placed in a coat pocket, bag, or even attached to a person using a keychain or lanyard which means in the event of the person wandering or getting lost, it is easy for family members or care providers to find the exact location of the person, helping them to easily fetch them home or get help to their exact location.
Many devices, including the Pebble device mentioned above, incorporate an SOS button, which when activated will send an alert to a smartphone app or other software to alert family members to an issue.
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Can You Get A Tracker For Someone With Dementia
Yes, you can get a GPS tracker for someone with dementia. There are many different types of trackers available on the market. You can find trackers that are designed specifically for people with dementia. These devices can help you keep track of your loved ones whereabouts and ensure that they are safe.
Autonomy Control Safety And Privacy
Like many “caregiving products”, these location devices and trackers raise important issues of privacy, control, and autonomy.
One of the things that come up again and again in conversations among groups of older adults is the desire to maintain autonomy as long as is realistic.
Of course, declining cognition impacts the ability to stay independent in many ways. And at some point, as dementia progesses, autonomy probably has to become limited to keep the person healthy and safe.
There are also often tradeoffs to be made between autonomy and privacy, and between safety and privacy.
For example, if someone knows where you are at all times, that may well enhance your safety. But it definitely impinges on your privacy.
And, if the alternatives are “don’t leave the house”, or “go where you want, but surrender some privacy so we can help if something goes wrong”, that is a tradeoff between autonomy and privacy many would choose to make.
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Bay Alarm Medical Alert Button
The Bay Alarm Medical Alert Button is a lightweight, ultra-compact device that can be attached to a lanyard or placed in a convenient carrying case. Using Bay Alarm Medicals app, caregivers can look up the users location at any moment as well as check on battery life. In a crisis, the patient can click a button, and Bay Alarm Medicals response team will contact the users friends, family, or neighbors they can even notify local emergency services if needed.
Cost: The Bay Alarm Medical Alert Button currently costs $79, plus a $30 monthly subscription fee with an additional $10/month if you choose to add fall detection.