A story about the impact on a family of having a father with dementia:
My father was first diagnosed with dementia five years ago. He had always been good-humoured and kind of shy. He was also very giving. In fact, he worked in health care at Camp Hill Hospital in Halifax for many years.
You can imagine our family’s surprise when, in 2009 as his dementia progressed, he gradually became very easily frustrated and even aggressive, throwing things, pushing or shoving. He even bit me once! In addition to aggressive behaviours, his sleep was disturbed. He would be up half the night and then sleep during the day. He also started experiencing hallucinations. It began to be just too much for my mother and it appeared, despite our best efforts, we could no longer support him at home.
We saw the family doctor that summer, who then referred us to the Seniors Mental Health team at the Abbie J. Lane Hospital in Halifax. We saw a geriatric psychiatrist and psychiatric social worker. After the initial assessment, they provided monthly visits. In the next months, my father’s medications were adjusted and his sleep, hallucinations and aggressive behaviours improved. We also received a wealth of literature on dementia – we found this really helpful. The doctor and social worker also discussed with us how we might better handle aggressive behaviours and diffuse situations early rather than having them escalate. Many of these suggestions worked really well and my mother and I began to be much more capable of managing father.
A big benefit of having help from the specialized mental health team for seniors was that they offered expertise beyond what our family physician could provide. They were able to explain certain parts of the dementia and the behaviours in a way that that comforted us and gave us hope. When placement time came, they helped us through that difficult decision and process, too.
One of the biggest benefits of having been cared for by the Seniors Mental Health team was that my mother and I didn’t feel so alone anymore. We felt we had a shoulder to cry on and knew that if we had more questions or new issues arose, the Seniors Mental Health team would be there for us.
I really can’t put into words how much help the seniors mental health service has been to our family. Their input allowed us to keep our father at home an extra full year and, if it weren’t for the fact that he started to fall, I know he would still be at home today because of their support.
For more information on seniors mental health and to learn more about services in your community, please visit www.gov.ns.ca/health/mhs/services_seniors.asp.
Topic: Dementia
