ALS (sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease) is a progressively degenerating neurological disease that can cause a wide variety of physical challenges that can lead to clinical depression. If you’re providing ALS care for a loved one, it’s easy to become stressed and unsure about how to help the individual live life to the fullest and stay positive.
As a family caregiver providing ALS care, being aware of the struggles that come with ALS is vital.
What Can You Do to Make Life Easier for Someone Living With ALS?
At Compassionate Care Home Health Services, the top provider of home care in Cadillac, Saginaw, West Branch, and the surrounding areas, our care team understands how challenging it can be to provide the support needed for those with ALS. We’ve put together the recommendations below to help ensure the best care for someone you love who is living with ALS:
- While they may struggle to communicate, people with muscle diseases like ALS are proficient thinkers. Discuss choices openly while making joint decisions about the individual’s ALS care.
- Ensure they have a computer and internet access. Computers, along with other assistive tools, offer entertainment and social interaction and make it possible for the person with muscle disease to help with tasks like paying bills, tracking down information, hiring services, and shopping.
- Make use of adaptive devices. The utilization of adaptive products such as wheelchairs is a move in the direction of self-sufficiency, not away from it. Adaptive tools are obtainable for assorted everyday tasks, like eating, opening jars and doors, buttoning or zipping up clothing, writing, and taking a shower.
- Ask if the person wants support before assisting. Avoid taking over tasks that the person can still do themselves or with adaptive tools.
- Patience is key. Even though it may often seem quicker and more efficient to take over certain tasks, demonstrate patience and allow the person to accomplish the tasks that they can.
For individuals with Lou Gehrig’s disease, self-reliance and exceptional ALS care are essential. The home care professionals at Compassionate Care Home Health Services are extensively trained and experienced in providing ALS care to ensure people with ALS live their best lives.
Contact us any time at 877-308-1212 for more information about how our home care services can benefit an older adult in your life.