{"id":820,"date":"2015-12-04T04:58:56","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T04:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/?p=820"},"modified":"2015-12-04T04:58:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T04:58:56","slug":"820","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/2015\/12\/04\/820\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Holiday Gift Ideas for Loved Ones with Dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/103\/2015\/12\/HolidayGiftGiving.jpg\" alt=\"HolidayGiftGiving\" width=\"300\" height=\"479\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-822\" \/>Thriving at Home<\/strong><\/em> (December 2015)<\/p>\n<p>by Sarah Lane<\/p>\n<p>Shopping for holiday gifts for friends or family members suffering from Alzheimer\u2019s or other dementia can be tricky. You may be unsure about what they enjoy or what they\u2019re capable of doing. When choosing a gift, think about their personality, their hobbies, their abilities and their favorite pastimes.<\/p>\n<p>As someone trained to care for those with dementia, here are a few gift suggestions I know work well:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>A family calendar.<\/em><\/strong> Give your loved one a personalized calendar that includes pictures your family \u2014 grandchildren, children, nieces, nephews, cousins, anyone who is close with your loved one. In addition to photos, take the time to fill in special dates like birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and family reunions.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Favorite music.<\/em><\/strong> Buy them a CD full of their favorite songs by their favorite singers. Music can help those with Alzheimer\u2019s to remember enjoyable events and times from their past marked by specific songs or groups.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Comfortable clothing.<\/em><\/strong> Any clothing that you\u2019re buying for a loved one with Alzheimer\u2019s should be comfortable, easy to put on or take off and machine washable. Consider items like sweatshirts, sweatpants, pajamas, sweaters, slip-on shoes or a warm robe.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Identification bracelets.<\/em><\/strong> This gift is especially great if your family member is prone to wandering from the house. Identification bracelets are available from many different providers and help to ensure that your loved one makes it home safely if they leave the house unattended.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Video entertainment.<\/em><\/strong> DVDs of movies, musicals or plays can be a great gift and also rekindle wonderful memories from the past. Make a list of their favorites and pick them up as they\u2019re available. You can also purchase tickets for a movie, play, sporting event or a fun day trip with friends and family.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My favorite part of the Holiday Season is the time we get to spend together with extended family.\u00a0 My family has lived in the Olympia area for four generations, so as you might imagine, I have aunts, uncles and dozens of cousins nearby.\u00a0 All month long there are wonderful family functions for us to enjoy each other, reminisce and reconnect.<\/p>\n<p>As your family gathers at \u201chome\u201d over the holidays, try to involve your loved one suffering from dementia in the festivities. Let them help you put together the decorations, prepare food or set the table for the family meal. They will enjoy the party and feel accomplished because they helped to contribute something to the celebration. For loved ones who are in the later stages of Alzheimer\u2019s or dementia, another great activity is to take a car ride around their old neighborhoods looking at holiday light displays.<\/p>\n<p>With the family together, you might also want to take the opportunity to collectively assess how things are going for your aging loved one.\u00a0 Has their cognitive condition worsened?\u00a0 Is their living situation still healthy and safe for their capabilities?\u00a0 Should they be receiving some regular, or additional, care? FirstLight Home Care offers customized services based on what they need. Our trained, compassionate caregivers are outstanding, and can help them live a quality and independent life in their home \u2013 and give you peace of mind.<\/p>\n<p>From our FirstLight Home Care family to yours, we wish you a wonderful Holiday Season!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">###<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>&#8220;Thriving at Home&#8221; is a monthly column by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/about-first-light-care-provider.php\">Sarah Lane<\/a>, a certified Home Care Aide and owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/\">FirstLight Home Care &#8212; South Sound<\/a>. \u00a0To learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/what-is-home-care.php\">home care<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/respite-care-services-first-light.php\">respite care<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/dementia-care-services-first-light.php\">dementia care<\/a>, or any of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/services-quality-affordable-home-care.php\">non-medical home care services<\/a> offered by FirstLight Home Care, give Sarah a call at 360-489-1621 or go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/\">www.southsound.firstlighthomecare.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thriving at Home (December 2015) by Sarah Lane Shopping for holiday gifts for friends or family members suffering from Alzheimer\u2019s or other dementia can be tricky. You may be unsure about what they enjoy or what they\u2019re capable of doing. When choosing a gift, think about their personality, their hobbies,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thriving-at-home-column"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-olympia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}