Long-Term Care

Emergency guidelines for dementia residents released

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, September 26, 2006

Long-term care and consumer organizations released on September 19 a guide to providing care for dementia residents in long-term care during emergencies. Planning for a pandemic/epidemic or disaster: Care for persons with cognitive impairment discusses emergency situations, such as a serious flu outbreak, hurricane, or fire. In these cases, nonlicensed staff are at times need to assist with direct care of residents with dementia, said the American Health Care Association (AHCA) in a recent news release.

Minimizing environmental and daily structure changes will help a dementia resident adapt to a crisis situation and be less likely to exhibit aggravation and frustration. To keep a resident calm and safe during a crisis, AHCA advised staff unfamiliar with a resident to get to know him or her, inform the resident's family of the current situation, assist the resident with eating and drinking, and prevent wandering.

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