I would contact social services for your county to see if she qualifies for any in-home services. Then you can also have a discussion about what other care options are available to her, assuming she has limited financial resources.
You may want to call area churches to see if any have Adult Day Care ministries. These would most likely be more affordable than any for-profit places. If you are part of a faith-based community, maybe seek volunteers to come in and be a companion to your Mom for a few hours a day or week.
Depending on your state of residence, Medicaid mostly only covers LTC + financial need. Talk to the social worker about this as well. I wish you all the best. Yes, it is very overwhelming when doing it by yourself.
You sure do have your hands full! How long has mom been living with you? Is it new for her to expect you to keep her entertained? That's really hard and annoying. My mom, 79 with dementia, was basically the same way. She made no effort to make friends and do hobbies or anything. Didn't want to go to the senior center, etc. It would be nice if they would help themselves a bit, right? Since you work, I think it would be good to get mom to go to the senior center or adult day care. She'll have things to do and want less from you. Or you could hire some aides to spend time with her. I did that for about a year before having her move into assisted living. They seem to have NO idea that we actually want to continue to live our lives and don't want to spend every living minute with them. That's a hard no. We should not give up our work, our friends, our me time.
Ugh I shudder with the eating with their hands! The desire to be clean and not pass germs along is zero with dementia. My mom was really into licking her darn fingers. Ignoring the nice napkin that was always next to her plate. I could practically see the germs crawling around. I just had to clean more and be more careful with washing my hands.
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You may want to call area churches to see if any have Adult Day Care ministries. These would most likely be more affordable than any for-profit places. If you are part of a faith-based community, maybe seek volunteers to come in and be a companion to your Mom for a few hours a day or week.
Depending on your state of residence, Medicaid mostly only covers LTC + financial need. Talk to the social worker about this as well. I wish you all the best. Yes, it is very overwhelming when doing it by yourself.
Ugh I shudder with the eating with their hands! The desire to be clean and not pass germs along is zero with dementia. My mom was really into licking her darn fingers. Ignoring the nice napkin that was always next to her plate. I could practically see the germs crawling around. I just had to clean more and be more careful with washing my hands.
Best of luck.
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