carer vs cleaner

[cathy.honey]

Hi. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers nearly 6 years ago, and has been suffering from urinary incontinence for some time now. At the moment she lives independently without any external support, and goes out regularly. When I went to visit her home yesterday the stench of urine was overpowering. She has no awareness that there is a problem. Do you think I should be looking at getting some kind of care package in place for her, or just a cleaner? It feels like we need a combination of both, but not sure it exists. She also has piles of clutter everywhere; I have recently had to completely scrub her kitchen. I don't really know where to start, any advice would be welcome.

Many thanks

 

[Beate]

A cleaner is a good idea but she is not going to change your Mum into pads! You definitely need a care package of some description for her. I can't see how someone with dementia can cope with incontinence on their own. She'll need washing and clothes changes every day. Please get in touch with social services.

 

[sistermillicent]

Some care agencies also do cleaning, though this is, I think, unlikely to be something you would get through social services, but who knows, it is worth a try. It would mean not just a quick get up and washed service but a visit of a couple of hours at least so that some cleaning could be done.

If your mum is self funding ring round the agencies and see if you can find one that does both care and cleaning.

 

[jaymor]

Hi and welcome to TP.

Carers v. cleaner? Carers I think would be the way to go. Getting carers in now to help or supervise with bathing, eating, taking medication now would get her used to people coming into her house as there will come a time when she will need them to do more.

I doubt you would get a cleaner to come in to clean up accidents as part of their job discription. Paying to have the carpets deep cleaned would help but the problem of smell will return when the carpets are re soiled. Would it be possible to change the floor coverings to a waterproof wipe able surface. There are some really nice patterned ones these days and the tiled and wood patterns are very realistic. A quick mop, a little disinfectant and job done and no damage.

Hopefully someone will be along with some more ideas of how to help your Mum. There is so much help and support on here that is readily available from carers experiencing the same.

 

[dora]

Incontinence service?

You could ask her gp to refer her to the incontinence service. They could advise on the cause and any treatment that may be possible, and pads if necessary, and then what the next step should be.

 

[Izzy]

I think carers would be the best way to go. Along with advice from the continence service this might reduce the cleaning needed.

 

[tre]

I have carers from Crossroads and a local branch of Home I*****d . Both will do some household tasks whilst they are here although I prefer them to focus on my husband. If I ever leave any washing up it is always done and both have offered to do ironing. I would ring around a few agencies and discuss it with them. One of my aquaintances whose husband insisted he did not need a carer but could not safely be left has a male carer who does some gardening because as far as the husband is concerned this chap comes to assist his wife in the garden.
Maybe if you got a cleaning company to do a deep clean to get things in order and then the carer could keep on top of it.
I must say though that all these people are self funders and I imagine if you were looking at a 15 min slot from the LA then there would be no time to clean as well.
Tre