Featured Article: Having Dinner with Mom Can Improve Alzheimer’s Care

By Posted by: John Smith October 26, 2015 in Alzheimer’s Care in Gaithersburg MD

Note from Regina McNamara: As a new grandmother, I continue to learn how young parents find the most effective ways to interact with and care for their children to insure they thrive, both physically and socially.

One habit Scott and Marissa have adopted is that all meals are eaten as a family together. Ryan, 10 months now is thriving and especially enjoys mealtimes where he shares the table and the meal with his parents. That includes meals at home, in restaurants, in parks, anywhere. And any foods..pork dumplings, salmon, lasagne,endless variety. Ryan eats the same food as Scott and Marissa and with equal gusto!

The benefits to both parents and child are clear and quite amazing. Joyful and healthy eating experiences shared!

It occurs to me that the same pleasure occurs with family members with Alzheimer’s when caregivers, both professional as well as family caregivers enjoy a meal together. There are safety benefits as well, of course watching swallowing, avoiding choking but the social benefits and sheer pleasure of enjoying each other’s company apply equally to people of all ages.

This blog entry by John Smith, RN of Maryland articulates this concept beautifully in the below article:

November is Eat Better, Eat Together Month and when your mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, you may want to care for her yourself. That’s fine for a while, but it’s always a good Idea to at least talk about the prospect of hiring professional home care services.

As you provide support for your mother, that may include doing laundry, cleaning around the house, taking her to doctor’s appointments, and maybe even preparing meals.

You might stop by in the morning to get her out of bed, get her something to eat, and get her dressed before heading off to work and then again in the evening to prepare dinner and help her get ready for bed.

If you have a tendency to rush around and just make something for her to eat and serve it to her while she sits at the dinner table alone so you can go and do the laundry and take care of everything else that needs to get done, you may very well be missing out on a great opportunity.

Companionship is incredibly important for everyone, regardless of their physical and mental health. Your mother is no exception. You may take some things for granted, such as assuming you’re always going to have time to have a nice sit-down meal with her or that it can wait for the weekend, but why not now?

When it comes to any type of Alzheimer’s care, conversation and spending time with the person diagnosed with this disease can provide them many incredible benefits. Conversation helps to stimulate the brain, which has been shown to be beneficial in the long-term aspects of the disease.

You may also find that sitting down to eat together you discover many things your mother would like to do or interests you didn’t even know about. Just because somebody has been diagnosed with dementia doesn’t mean they have to sit around and watch every day pass them by. Staying active is incredibly important for mental stimulation.

The more mentally stimulated a person is, the better it is for their overall brain health and development. That has the potential to reduce some of the effects of memory loss, though research has indicated some of those benefits may be perceived as opposed to genuine, but any benefit is better than none.

This November, remember that spending time with your loved one with Alzheimer’s truly shows how much you care. ■

http://alzheimerscaredaily.com/blog/2015/10/26/having-dinner-with-mom-can-improve-alzheimers-care/#forward

John Smith, R.N.
Co-Founder and Director of Operations
at Prestige Healthcare Resources, Inc.