How Can I Use Home Health Services to Make Hospital Discharge Go More Smoothly for My Loved One With Dementia?

If home healthcare is prescribed for your loved one after hospital discharge, there are several things you can do to make the experience go well:

• Remind each home healthcare professional you encounter that your loved one has dementia -- and what his or her abilities were before hospitalization.

• Share tips on what you know tends to work well (and less well) with your loved one. Does he or she find music soothing, for example? Prefer to be addressed as "Mrs." or "Mr."? Seem more cooperative right after meals? Like to have his back rubbed when you talk to him?

• Realize that like all healthcare providers, home healthcare staff will have varying levels of experience and skill with people with dementia. If a provider doesn't seem to be working well with your loved one, consider notifying the home health agency's management and asking if another provider can be sent instead.

• Be open-minded about trying to learn from the home healthcare providers. You're the expert on your loved one, but they work with many different people who have dementia. You can pick up useful strategies and tips.

• Depending on the circumstance, you may need to be there to help your loved one carry out certain suggestions, such as reminding him or her to tuck in the chin when swallowing.

• Another reason to stick around is that your familiar presence may help your loved one work more cooperatively with the home healthcare therapists.

• Don't automatically blame home healthcare workers for your loved one's confusion or distress. Yes, they're a new presence and this can be upsetting, and quality can be uneven. But remember that most people with dementia come out of the hospital mentally worse than when they went in. It can take days or sometimes even weeks for them to get back to how they were before the hospitalization.