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Dementia Care Ottawa

Find care for Alzheimer's and dementia in Ottawa and Region

A number of Ottawa care homes offer leading-edge care for people with senile dementia. These providers offer care for rarer forms of dementia (vascular dementia, Pick's Disease, Parkinson's, Lewy Body dementia, Huntington's and others) as well as Alzheimer's Disease. The Ottawa Region is home to several exceptional facilities, including unique memory care retirement homes in Orleans, Kanata, and other suburbs in the capital region. 

Researching dementia care

Families in the early phase of a dementia diagnosis will consult with the Local Health Integration Network. As part of your dementia care plan, you should be sure to take part in adult day care programs, and, if you can afford it, hire home health care services. In later stages of dementia, you should look into the value of memory care facilities in the area. As seen throughout the province, wait times for long term care (LTC) beds make it very difficult to get into the LTC facility of your choosing.

Some facilities may seem expensive on the surface, but there are many things included in their monthly fees. Many caregivers do not correctly calculate the cost they are paying for caregiving, including lost work time, cost for traveling, and other expenses. Care in these homes is reliable, stable, constant and professional.

Read Ottawa retirement home reviews before you choose!

Care for different kinds of dementia

In most cases, care offered for other forms of senile dementia will not vary significantly from that for Alzheimer's Disease. Here is a quick look at some differences in both symptoms and care:

• Lewy Body dementia care may not be accommodated in all settings. This form of dementia can manifest in more aggressive and unpredictable behaviour on the part of clients so some care homes may be hesitant about accepting clients.
• Parkinsonian dementia care may differ from care available for Parkinson's Disease. Many retirement residences readily accept Parkinson's sufferers into assisted living senior care. Dementia can manifest in late stages of Parkinson's sometimes, and if the home doesn't have memory care facilities, the client may need to move.
• Care for seniors with Pick's Disease may also be handled differently. Frontotemporal dementia can entail personality changes including disinhibition. This may be problematic for some care facilities. However, Alzheimer's patients also display aggressive behaviour, so care facilities may not make a distinction.

Health care sciences make continued advances in understanding mental disorders, and care for dementia progresses all the time. As our understanding improves, residences may offer increasingly specific care for clients with different kinds of senile dementia. Learn more about specialized care received for Alzheimer's in Ottawa care homes. 

Retirement homes' innovation in dementia care

Dementia care in Ottawa's retirement residences, like other health care services in the region, is some of the best care available. This makes these facilities a destination for people from across the province. Private dementia care facilities in Ottawa feature amenities that put them ahead of care facilities elsewhere and from previous generations. Here are some innovations you can expect in facilities here: 

• Real-Time Location System (RTLS). For seniors with dementia, wandering is a danger. RTLS is a platform used in several Ottawa area memory care facilities to help maintain the safety of clients with senile dementia. This system employs wireless technology in pendants or badges worn by residents.  Software easily tracks the whereabouts of residents, so staff know where they are at all times. This is done with the consent of families, of course, but this smart modern technology saves lives and controls wandering, cause for alarm for many caregivers.
• Design for dementia. Hallways and care spaces in modern care homes feature floor and room design that helps reduce anxiety and empowers clients with Alzheimer's and other kinds of dementia. Design features and considerations can include rounded hallways, colour-coded pathways, irremovable labels on doors, reduced lighting, muted noise incursions and more.
• Dedicated therapies and approaches. There are many programs and approaches to dementia care that have been developed in the last few years. Some programs employed by facilities in the region include the Ashby Memory Method, Java Music Club Program, Snoezelen therapy rooms and more. Staff should be trained in professional approaches to care such as validation therapy, gentle persuasion, and others (so ask about that). 

Staff are increasingly well-trained in understanding dementia and improving approaches to care, and Ottawa dementia care homes like those listed above provide better support than ever before. 

Finding the best care facility for you

Here are just a couple more tips and things to think about:

Can you find care specialized for the type of dementia you face? In the Ottawa Region, there are many options available, in terms of the number of care facilities, and the staff at each of these facilities. You will need to speak to staff and be sure that they are fully prepared to offer care for the type of dementia you face. Even in the case of Alzheimer's care, there are many degrees of specialization out there, and you should look at various options in the Region before you make a final decision. Get all the facts, then trust your instincts.

Review relevant long term care inspection reports. Another resource available to you is the provincial inspection reports for homes with long term care (LTC). Families that plan ahead may be looking at LTC in the same facility where they are getting earlier care. Each LTC home is inspected once per year by the government of Ontario; there are also follow up inspections, complaints inspections and critical incident inspections (if these are needed).  During annual inspections, inspectors find issues of non-compliance with many homes.

You should review these reports for long term care facilities, where they are attached to the dementia care facility you are looking at. If you are considering keeping your loved one in the same residence, for the move into long term care, these reports will be important to you. Before you commit to a long term care home in the Ottawa region, compare recent reports from different LTC homes to see how well they comply with provincial guidelines, and how well they have responded to issues of non-compliance in the past. You can find these government reports by searching here: publicreporting.ltchomes.net