Home Care Agency in North NJ

Are you looking for Home Care Agency in North NJ? Applause Home Care is a local, non-franchised Home Care Agency in North NJ that offers meaningful care that is unique to each individual. We believe in offering “CARE PARTNERING” services. This is a two-way exchange where the individual is directing his/her own personal care services.

Home Care Agency

Home care providers are becoming as popular as the years go by. Most people understand that aging is inevitable, and we have to make plans for when that happens. Although there are always friends and family to take care of you, sometimes, they may not be available to give you adequate care. This is why need a home care agency

When do you need a home care agency?

There comes the point in human life where doing the smallest task seems impossible. This is one of the pointers that such a person requires home care services. Here are some ways to know if a person needs Home care.

1. When a person needs help completing simple tasks.

If a dear aged one has trouble moving around e.g., meeting appointments or leaving, getting around the house, doing the dishes or laundry, cooking etc., they will need caregivers. These tasks may seem very simple, but when a person is unable to perform such tasks, they need help.

2. Requiring assistance for regular human activities

A person who finds it difficult to bath, dress-up, clean up after a visit to the restroom is unfit to take care of himself/herself and requires the services of a home care agency. At Applause Homecare, we have nurses and health care assistants experienced in providing adequate care aged persons need.
3. If a person requires companionship.

Aged people thrive better among friends and family. Everyone needs love, attention, and companionship, and what better to access, such as having a home caregiver. Most times, people that age has lost their significant other/ Life partners while others have never had one.

But no man is created to live in isolation; we all require human interaction. With our agency, you also get 24/7 assistance and supervision; so, the aged person is safe and comfortable.

Benefits of Home Care Agencies

1. Less costly

Home care is less expensive because you get to spend money only on what is necessary. You can cut out the cost of paying for a room in the facility, feeding, etc.

2. Protect Your privacy

For people who like to maintain their privacy or hate shared living spaces hiring a caregiver will help you maintain your lifestyle. You can build a relationship with your caregiver establishing a relationship that helps maintain your dignity.

3. Soothing and Comfortable

An aging body can be very uncomfortable because no one likes losing their independence. With Home care services, you don't have to make sudden changes to your life, just a little adjustment in a familiar environment.

If you want to give your elderly loved ones a safe, comfortable, and happy place to live, then applause home care is a great place. If you are making a plan yourself, you can check our website for our packages. What better way to spend your old age with the best care possible and amongst friends?

For more information about our Home Care Agency in North NJ, call Applause Home Care at (201) 326-8051.

Applause Home Care – Your Trusted Home Care Agency in North NJ.

Robin Williams and Lewy Body Dementia

Are you looking for Dementia Care in North NJ? Applause Home Care is a local 24/7 home care agency that provides Dementia Care in North NJ with meaningful care that is unique to each individual. We believe in offering “CARE PARTNERING” services. This is a two-way exchange where the individual is directing their own personal care services. Our home care services are designed to help our clients achieve overall better quality of living.

Robin Williams, the actor and comedian was known for his fast-paced, improvisational stand-up comedy and for his dramatic performances in films like in 'Good Will Hunting'' for which he won an Academy Award. On May 28th, 2014, he was diagnosed with Parkinson disease and, according to his wife, he had been experiencing depression, anxiety and paranoia. Williams, committed suicide on August 11, 2014 at the age of 63. It took three months to investigate and his autopsy showed that he had what is known as Lewy Body Dementia (LBD). (2)

“Robin was losing his mind and he was aware of it. Can you imagine the pain he felt as he experienced himself disintegrating?” the actor’s widow, Susan Schneider Williams, wrote in an editorial published September 27, 2016 in the journal Neurology. (1)

Lewy bodies are abnormal aggregations of protein that develop inside nerve cells in the brain, contributing to Parkinson’s LBD (Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies), and some other disorders. (11). LBD is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, affecting an estimated 1.3 million Americans. (8) . LBD symptoms include:

Hallucinations (seeing things that aren't there) and delusions (false, often paranoid, beliefs)

Mood changes, such as depression or anxiety

Parkinson's Disease symptoms (i.e. changes in gait)

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

Sensitivity to neuroleptic (anti-psychotic) drugs

Delusions, aggression and depression. (5)

Cognitive problems – thinking problems similar to those of Alzheimer’s disease such as confusion, poor attention, visual-spatial problems and memory loss. (12)

“Depression is probably the most common psychiatric complication,” said Dr. Brent Forester, a geriatric psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. “And it’s most likely directly related to the biological brain changes that occur in patients with the disease.” (6)

Depression caused by the altered brain chemistry can lead people to self-harm. But as Dr. David Knopman, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, points out: “Suicide is an extremely uncommon outcome of dementia with Lewy bodies.” (3)

According to Dennis Dickson, the LBDA spokesperson, "...he (Williams) experienced depression, anxiety, and paranoia, which may occur in either Parkinson's disease or dementia with Lewy bodies," adding that, in Parkinson's, "Lewy bodies are generally limited in distribution, but in Diffuse Lewy Bodies, the Lewy bodies are spread widely throughout the brain, as was the case with Robin Williams.” (7)

Doctors recognized LBD as a distinct disease about 20 years ago and it remains something of a mystery. Funding for LBD research dramatically lags behind funding for other cognitive diseases. (4) Last year, the National Institute of Health (NIH) spent $140 million on research for Parkinson’s disease, almost $600 million on Alzheimer’s and $39 million on LBD. (9)

The Alzheimer’s Association recognize the link between the diseases and have used some of the funding they receive to further an understanding of Lewy Body and its symptoms.

“Right now, the Alzheimer’s Association is funding 500 active projects in 27 countries throughout the world with about $167,000,000.00 in current funding for research for Alzheimer's primarily and some is for Parkinson's dementia and other dementias (including Lewy Body),” according to Randy Lerner the Manager, Marketing and Communications of the Alzheimer’s Association – Greater NJ Chapter.

In Parkinson’s disease, abnormal protein clumps in lower parts of the brain, causing tremors, rigidity, and other problems of motor control. Dementia may come later if the Lewy bodies spread. By comparison, Lewy body dementia starts with protein clumps in the cerebral cortex, (the brain’s biggest region) causing problems with cognition.

What can be done to treat Lewy Body and its symptoms?

The Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDFA) website https://www.lbda.org/go/treatment-0 states the following:

Cognitive Symptoms

Medications called cholinesterase inhibitors are considered the standard treatment for cognitive symptoms in LBD. These medications were developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease. However, some researchers believe that people with LBD may be even more responsive to these types of medications than those with Alzheimer’s.

Movement Symptoms

Movement symptoms may be treated with a Parkinson’s medication called levodopa, but if the symptoms are mild, it may be best to not treat them in order to avoid potential medication side-effects.

Hallucinations

Some newer antipsychotic medication are being prescribed to treat hallucinations.

Sleep Disorders

Usually treated with melatonin and/or clonazepam.

For more information about our Dementia Care in North NJ call Applause Home Care at (201) 326-8051.

Applause Home Care – Your Trusted Provider for Dementia Care in North NJ.

(1)The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain, https://n.neurology.org/content/87/13/1308.full

(2) How Lewy Body Dementia Gripped Robin Williams, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-lewy-body-dementia-gripped-robin-williams1/

(3) Did dementia cause Robin Williams’ suicide? Unlikely, experts say https://www.statnews.com/2015/11/04/did-dementia-cause-robin-williams-suicide-thats-unlikely-experts-say/

(4) Consensus guidelines for the clinical and pathologic diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB): report of the consortium on DLB international workshop. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8909416

(5) Atypical Parkinsonism, Michael J. Fox Foundation,

https://www.michaeljfox.org/news/atypical-parkinsonism?smcid=ag-a1b1R0000086fMM

(6) Let’s Talk About Aging With Dr. Brent Forester

https://www.mcleanhospital.org/podcast-lets-talk-about-aging-dr-brent-forester

(7) LBDA Clarifies Autopsy Report on Comedian, Robin Williams; https://www.lbda.org/content/lbda-clarifies-autopsy-report-comedian-robin-williams

(8) Is dementia with Lewy bodies the second most common cause of dementia?, U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12489913

(9) Focus On Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) Research, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Current-Research/Focus-Disorders/Alzheimers-Related-Dementias/Focus-Lewy-Body-Dementia-LBD-Research

(10) Lewy Body Dementia Association, https://www.lbda.org/go/treatment-0

(11) Lewy Body, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewy_body

(12) Lewy Body Dementia, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lewy-body- dementia/symptoms-causes/syc-20352025

Dementia Care in North NJ

Are you looking for Dementia Care in North NJ? Applause Home Care is a local 24/7 home care agency that provides Dementia Care in North NJ with meaningful care that is unique to each individual.

Dementia Care

Like all illnesses, caring for a person with dementia can be pretty exhausting. It is a very daunting task that comes with a lot of unknowns. Dementia care can take its toll on the caregiver without the right knowledge or approach.

If you are responsible for a parent or an elderly loved one with Alzheimer's, dementia, or other related diseases, your attitude is essential to success. However, you must educate yourself on what it requires to care for a dementia patient successfully

How to take care of a Dementia patient

The first thing you must know is that dementia is not just a memory loss disease. Memory loss is one only of the symptoms of this disease. For other types of dementia, like pick's disease or frontotemporal dementia, the patient exhibits symptoms like personality changes rather than memory loss. Here are a few tips for dementia care.

1. Request Support when you need it

Taking care of a sick person is hard, and you will need help from time to time. Getting professional help from facilities like Applause Home care doesn't make you weak. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it; support groups help caregivers hugely.

Through support groups, you can also learn about how about other people's challenges and their coping mechanisms. Sometimes you may not be able to take of the patient at home; you can enlist the service of homes like Applause home care to help with professional care giving.

2. Be Empathetic

With dementia, as a caregiver, there is little to nothing you can do to make it better. This is why you need to learn how to be compassionate and empathize. People with dementia usually get confused about who they are, what time they are living, or their whereabouts. Though human relationships may seem very fragile with them, it is vital for their survival

3. Be realistic

Understandably, you want to be available for your ailing loved one. However, you still have a life- A job, probably a family of your own, friends, etc. It would be best if you found a healthy and realistic between care giving and your normal life.

You also have to be realistic about the progress of the disease. There will be good days and bad days, therefore, you have to be prepared for it. Most times, dementia is progressive and irreversible, so your main aim is to make sure the person is safe, comfortable, and happy.

Taking care of a friend or family with dementia can be pretty hectic. You are not a terrible person if you have to place the dementia patient in a home care agency like applause home care. Here your loved one can get the complete care they need. They get round-the-clock supervision and attention to help achieve excellent health and well-being.

For more information about our Dementia Care in North NJ call Applause Home Care at (201) 326-8051.

Applause Home Care – Your Trusted Provider for Dementia Care in North NJ.