Dementia/Alzheimers
The State of Illinois requires all caregivers to undergo 9 hours of training on how to serve those with dementia or Alzheimer’s. At CCS Care, we are committed to going above and beyond to provide the highest quality of care to your loved ones. Included in this training, is training in memory-enhancing exercises.
What are memory-enhancing exercises?
Memory-enhancing exercises are designed to help those diagnosed with dementia improve their cognitive functionality in the earlier stages of the disease. The science behind it has shown that these exercises can drastically increase your loved one’s quality of life. Included under the umbrella of these exercises is reminiscence assistance. This type of assistance involves bringing up the happier, long-term memories of one’s past through the use of music, pictures, and objects of importance to your loved one. Even if they have been diagnosed with dementia, your loved one can often still access the memories of younger days through these practices.
Eventually, as their dementia worsens, your loved one will begin to have greater cognitive difficulties. As this stage begins, so too does a new stage of exercises. In the new stage the focus shifts to helping your loved one focus on daily functionality goals in order to maintain a degree of independence as long as possible. As your loved one reaches the final stages of dementia, they will grow increasingly more reliant on their caregivers, but even in this stage memory-enhancing exercises are still a helpful option. In particular, the use of music, which involves playing songs your loved one enjoys, can assist in bringing up positive memories during this phase. Overall, these exercises allow your loved one to maintain their independence a little longer and improve their quality of life. At CCS Care, these values are integral to the reasons we train our employees in this type of care.