If you have been diagnosed with dementia and planning for your future now while you can, you need to consider the types of care you will need. Even if you can take care of yourself right now in the future you will lose this ability. If you want to continue living in your home after you get to the point where you cannot take care of yourself, you can choose home health care instead of a nursing home. There are many different types of home health care that are available, two of which are listed below.

Personal Care

One type of home care is known as personal care. This also offers you companionship. A nurse or home health aide will come to your home and help you with things like taking a bath and brushing your hair. This person will also help you go to the bathroom, dress, plan and prepare your meals, and do light housekeeping chores and laundry. This professional can also pick up your prescriptions and run other errands for you.

This nurse or aide can drive you to your doctor's appointments. They can also drive you to activities you may enjoy.

You can choose to hire someone to be at your home seven days a week during the day and have someone in your family stay with you at night. If this will not work well, you can hire a nurse or aide to stay with you 24/7 and live in your home. This way they are always available to help you when you need it.

Skilled Care

There is also skilled care available. This would work well if you have other problems along with the dementia. For example, this health care professional can help you take care of wounds you may have. They can also help you with physical therapy, if needed.

The skilled care professional will be either a nurse or an LPN and will be qualified to work with people in a home setting. This type of nurse generally does not stay in your home but visits several times per week. If you need skilled care, you should consider having this, as well as personal care.

The skill care professional will work directly with your doctor. The doctor will tell the nurse or LPN the type of care you need, the medications to use for would care, and the types of physical therapy that should be used.

Talk with your doctor about these two types of home care and they can give you much more information. The doctor can also get you in touch with a home care service in your area. Contact a company, like Ameristaff Nursing Services, for more help.