11. Incontinence – Cleaning Your Care Receiver: Four Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
As caregivers for our loved ones with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, we’ve learned managing incontinence is one of the most challenging aspects of our journey. It’s a topic where having detailed information is vital to our adjusting to this part of our journey mentally, physically, and emotionally. We are Nancy Treaster and Sue Ryan. Through our experiences, and insights we’ve learned from others in support groups, we’ve developed three indispensable tips to help you navigate the important component of incontinence care with your care receiver — cleaning them.
10. Incontinence Begins: Four Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
Who knew that understanding the stages of incontinence could make such a difference in our caregiving journey? As caregivers for our loved ones with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, we’ve learned incontinence is an inevitable – and can be – a challenging part of our journey. It’s a reality and a topic that’s not often discussed. It’s helpful for us to be prepared to navigate incontinence with compassion, dignity, and grace for our care receivers and for us. We are Nancy Treaster and Sue Ryan. Through our experiences, we’ve developed four tips to help you navigate the pre-incontinence and early incontinence phases on your caregiving journey.
9. Preparing for Incontinence: Four Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
Who knew being prepared could make such a difference in managing incontinence? Incontinence can be one of the most difficult areas of our caregiving journeys. It’s personal. It’s awkward. It’s rarely something discussed — by anyone — making it potentially uncomfortable to talk about. It’s also one of the most important areas to navigate with compassion and dignity — for us and for our care receiver. Early preparation is essential. This is your moment of truth as a caregiver. Ask yourself: Can I handle this physically? Mentally? Emotionally? And if so, how? The good news is, you’ve got time to think it through, talk with others, and make smart decisions. Use this runway wisely — your future self will thank you. We are Nancy Treaster and Sue Ryan — we’ve faced incontinence care head-on. Trust us, it’s better to think about this now or you’ll wish you had. There’s a lot going on with incontinence! In this episode, we’re sharing four game-changing tips to help you be prepared.
8. Preparing Young Adults for a Family Member’s Dementia: Four Essential Tips
When a close family member is diagnosed with dementia, it can be uniquely challenging for young adults to navigate this new reality. We are Nancy and Merritt Treaster. When Merritt was in his early twenties, his dad, who was 60 at the time, was diagnosed with Frontotemporal dementia. A few short years later, his grandfather, at the age of 85, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Merritt’s experiences led us to create this episode to help other young adults. He has distilled his thoughts on how to be better prepared into four essential tips for young adults facing a family member’s dementia diagnosis.
7. Home Safety: Three Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
We are Nancy Treaster and Sue Ryan. Through our experiences as caregivers for our family members and loved ones with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, we’ve learned ensuring home safety is both vitally important and ever-changing. In this post, we’re sharing three main tips for managing safety — both inside and outside the home. These help you keep your loved one safe while giving you peace of mind.
6. Leaving Your Care Receiver Alone: Six Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
You’re going to wish you knew about the fifth tip for managing your loved one’s independence much earlier! As caregivers for family with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, we’ve learned that leaving them at home alone can be a challenging and anxiety-inducing experience. In this post, we’ll share strategies for maintaining their independence while ensuring their safety. We are Sue Ryan and Nancy Treaster, and through our experiences, we’ve developed six tips to help you navigate this temporary phase of your caregiving journey.
5. Removing Driving Privileges: Four Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
If you can successfully leverage tip one in this episode you will have an easy path to taking away the car keys. As caregivers for our husbands, parents, and other loved ones with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, we both learned that taking away the car keys can be a sensitive and important issue to address. In the beginning stages of dementia, our primary goal is to balance safety with our care receivers’ desire for independence. We are Sue Ryan and Nancy Treaster, and through our experiences, we’re offering four key tips.
4. Wandering: Ten Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
I wish I had known about this child proofing tip before I spent so much money on locksmiths. In this episode we talk about wandering. As caregivers for family with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, we’ve learned that wandering is a complex and often frightening behavior that requires careful management. Wandering can occur both inside and outside the home, during day or night, and each scenario presents unique challenges. We are Sue Ryan and Nancy Treaster, and through our experiences, we have four tips to address wandering while maintaining our loved ones’ dignity as well as ensuring their safety.
3. Communication – in the Beginning: Four Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias / Practical Tips and Candid Conversations
You are going to wish you knew about the third tip in this episode much earlier! As caregivers for our husbands, parents, and other loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, we’ve learned that communication is a constantly evolving process. In the beginning (the early season of the diagnosis), our primary goal is to help our care receivers maintain as much dignity and independence as possible. We are Sue Ryan and Nancy Treaster, and through our experiences, we’ve developed four tips to help you communicate.
2. Memory Loss: Four Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
Does it feel like a punch in the gut every time you realize something new your loved one has forgotten? As caregivers for our husbands, parents, and other loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, we’ve learned that memory loss in the early stages is a challenging journey. In the beginning (the early season of the diagnosis), our primary goal is to help our care receivers maintain as much dignity and independence as possible while providing support behind the scenes. We are Sue Ryan and Nancy Treaster, and through our experiences, we have four main tips that we’d like to share with you.