When Thomas noticed his 79-year-old wife Mary repeating the same questions within minutes, he dismissed it as normal aging. When she got lost driving to their daughter’s house—a route she’d taken hundreds of times—he convinced himself it was just stress. But when Mary left the stove on three times in one week, Thomas could no longer deny what was happening. His wife of 52 years was showing clear signs of dementia, and he had no idea how to help her.
After Mary’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, Thomas faced a decision that thousands of Calgary families confront each year: how do we provide the specialized care our loved one needs while keeping them in the home they love? The journey seemed overwhelming until Thomas connected with resources and support that made home-based dementia care not just possible, but genuinely rewarding for both of them.
Dementia affects over 76,000 Albertans, with thousands of Calgary families navigating the complex challenges of caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease and related conditions. While dementia care presents unique difficulties, many families successfully provide compassionate, effective care at home with proper knowledge, support, and resources.
This comprehensive guide provides Calgary families with everything they need to know about dementia care at home—from understanding the disease and creating safe environments to managing challenging behaviors, accessing local resources, and knowing when additional professional support becomes necessary.
Understanding Dementia and Its Impact on Home Care
What Dementia Means for Calgary Families
Dementia versus normal aging:
Dementia is not a normal part of aging but rather a collection of symptoms caused by various brain diseases, with Alzheimer’s disease representing the most common type. While everyone experiences occasional memory lapses, dementia involves progressive cognitive decline that significantly impacts daily functioning, independence, and quality of life.
Normal aging might involve occasionally forgetting where you placed your keys; dementia means forgetting what keys are for. Normal aging includes momentarily struggling to recall a name; dementia involves not recognizing your own children. Understanding this distinction helps families recognize when concerns require professional evaluation rather than dismissal as “just getting older.”
Common types of dementia in seniors:
Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60-70% of dementia cases and typically begins with short-term memory loss, gradually affecting language, reasoning, and personality. Vascular dementia results from reduced blood flow to the brain, often occurring after strokes, and may progress in noticeable steps rather than gradual decline.
Lewy body dementia involves abnormal protein deposits affecting both thinking and movement, often including visual hallucinations and Parkinson’s-like symptoms. Frontotemporal dementia primarily affects personality, behavior, and language rather than memory initially, typically occurring at younger ages than Alzheimer’s disease.
Mixed dementia involves more than one type simultaneously, most commonly Alzheimer’s disease combined with vascular dementia. Understanding your loved one’s specific dementia type helps tailor care approaches to their particular symptoms and progression patterns.
Progressive Nature of Dementia Care Needs
Early-stage dementia at home:
During early dementia stages, individuals may function relatively independently with minimal support. Care focuses primarily on safety monitoring, medication management, gentle reminders for daily tasks, and maintaining social engagement and activities.
Many Calgary families find that early-stage dementia care involves more emotional adjustment than hands-on caregiving. Both the person with dementia and family members must come to terms with the diagnosis and its implications while establishing support systems for the journey ahead.
Middle-stage dementia challenges:
As dementia progresses to middle stages, care needs intensify significantly. Individuals require more hands-on assistance with personal care including bathing, dressing, and grooming. Increased supervision becomes necessary for safety, as judgment deteriorates and confusion increases.
Communication becomes more challenging as language abilities decline. Behavioral changes often emerge during this stage, including agitation, wandering, sleep disturbances, and personality shifts. Calgary families caring for loved ones in middle-stage dementia often need substantial support to manage these escalating demands.
Late-stage dementia care considerations:
Late-stage dementia requires round-the-clock care and supervision. Individuals lose ability to communicate verbally, require total assistance with all personal care activities, experience severe memory loss including inability to recognize family members, and become increasingly immobile and vulnerable to infections and other health complications.
Many Calgary families can continue providing home-based care during late stages with professional support, though some ultimately choose facility placement when care needs exceed available resources.
Creating a Dementia-Friendly Home Environment in Calgary
Safety Modifications for Dementia Care
Fall prevention and mobility safety:
Falls represent a major risk for individuals with dementia due to impaired judgment, spatial awareness problems, and decreased mobility. Remove tripping hazards including loose rugs, electrical cords, and clutter from walkways. Install grab bars in bathrooms near toilets and in showers or tubs. Ensure adequate lighting throughout the home, particularly in hallways, stairs, and bathrooms.
Consider removing or securing potentially dangerous items. Lock up medications, cleaning supplies, sharp objects, and tools. If your loved one has a history of wandering, install locks that require keys on both sides of exterior doors, positioned high or low where they’re less likely to notice them.
Many Calgary homes have stairs presenting particular challenges for dementia care. If possible, arrange living spaces on a single floor. If stairs are unavoidable, mark edges clearly with contrasting tape and ensure excellent lighting. Consider stair gates if your loved one frequently forgets about stairs.
Managing wandering risks:
Wandering affects up to 60% of individuals with dementia and represents one of the most dangerous dementia behaviors. Calgary’s climate makes wandering particularly concerning during harsh winters when disoriented seniors face hypothermia risks within minutes.
Install door alarms that alert you when exterior doors open. Consider GPS tracking devices worn as watches or in shoe inserts, allowing you to locate your loved one quickly if they wander. Register with Calgary Police Service’s Project Lifesaver program, which provides tracking devices for at-risk individuals.
Reduce wandering triggers by ensuring your loved one gets adequate physical activity and stimulation during the day. Wandering often increases when individuals feel bored, anxious, or are searching for something familiar from their past.
Kitchen and fire safety:
Kitchens present multiple hazards for individuals with dementia who may forget cooking food, use appliances unsafely, or attempt to eat non-food items. Consider installing automatic shut-off devices on stoves. If necessary, disconnect the stove entirely or remove knobs when not supervised.
Keep potentially dangerous items—knives, cleaning products, matches—locked away. Install cabinet locks on storage areas containing hazardous materials. Some Calgary families create a safe snack station with pre-prepared, ready-to-eat foods their loved one can access independently.
Environmental Design for Dementia Care
Reducing confusion through design:
Simple, uncluttered environments reduce confusion and anxiety for individuals with dementia. Minimize decorative items that could be mistaken for something else. Use solid-colored dishes and placemats with high contrast to help distinguish food and utensils.
Avoid busy patterns on floors, walls, or furniture that might appear to move or create optical illusions. Individuals with dementia may perceive patterns as obstacles or holes, triggering fear and affecting mobility.
Clearly label rooms and important items with words and pictures. A picture of a toilet on the bathroom door helps individuals find the right room even when they can’t read or process written labels effectively.
Managing visual and sensory challenges:
Dementia often affects visual processing, making mirrors, televisions, and windows potentially confusing or frightening. Some individuals with dementia don’t recognize their own reflections, becoming agitated by the “stranger” in their home. Consider covering or removing mirrors if they cause distress.
Reduce glare and shadows which can be misinterpreted as objects or obstacles. Use even, gentle lighting rather than bright spotlights. Install night lights in hallways and bathrooms to reduce disorientation during nighttime hours.
Control noise levels which can overwhelm individuals with dementia. Reduce background noise from televisions, radios, or multiple conversations. Create quiet spaces where your loved one can retreat when feeling overstimulated.
Daily Care Routines for Home-Based Dementia Care
Establishing Consistent Routines
Why routines matter in dementia care:
Consistent daily routines provide structure and predictability that reduce anxiety and confusion for individuals with dementia. When activities happen at the same times each day, muscle memory and procedural learning can compensate somewhat for declining cognitive abilities.
Routines also make care more manageable for Calgary family caregivers by creating predictable patterns. Knowing what comes next reduces decision fatigue and helps anticipate potential challenges before they occur.
Creating effective daily schedules:
Build routines around your loved one’s natural rhythms and preferences. If they’ve always been early risers, work with that pattern rather than against it. Incorporate activities they’ve enjoyed throughout life, adapted to current abilities.
Schedule demanding activities during times when your loved one typically has most energy and best focus—often mid-morning for many individuals with dementia. Save quieter, less demanding activities for afternoon hours when fatigue increases.
Build flexibility into routines. While consistency matters, rigidity can create problems when unexpected situations arise. The goal is providing structure while remaining adaptable to changing needs and circumstances.
Personal Care and Hygiene Assistance
Bathing and grooming challenges:
Personal care often becomes one of the most difficult aspects of dementia care at home. Many individuals with dementia resist bathing due to fear, confusion, discomfort, or privacy concerns. The person who once prided themselves on impeccable grooming may now refuse to bathe or change clothes.
Approach bathing with patience and respect for dignity. Offer choices when possible—”Would you like to bathe now or after breakfast?” Maintain comfortable water temperature and bathroom warmth. Consider shower chairs or benches to reduce fall risk and increase comfort.
If traditional bathing becomes too stressful, consider alternatives like bed baths, no-rinse cleansing products, or professional assistance. Calgary home care providers experienced in dementia care can often accomplish personal care tasks that family members struggle with.
Dressing assistance and strategies:
Lay out clothes in the order they should be put on. Choose simple clothing with elastic waistbands, Velcro closures, or large buttons rather than complicated fastenings. Remove off-season or rarely worn items from closets to reduce overwhelming choices.
Allow extra time for dressing without rushing. Offer simple, one-step instructions: “Put your arm in the sleeve” rather than “Put on your shirt.” Provide gentle physical guidance when needed while encouraging as much independence as possible.
Meal Planning and Eating Support
Nutrition challenges in dementia care:
Dementia affects eating and nutrition in multiple ways. Individuals may forget to eat or forget that they’ve already eaten. Decreased sense of smell and taste reduces food appeal. Coordination difficulties make using utensils challenging. Some develop preferences for sweets while refusing other foods.
Serve meals at consistent times each day. Provide finger foods that don’t require utensils when coordination becomes difficult. Use dishes with high contrast to the food to make items more visible. Limit choices to avoid overwhelming decision-making abilities.
Monitor weight regularly as significant loss or gain can indicate eating problems requiring intervention. Calgary families sometimes find that professional mealtime assistance helps ensure adequate nutrition while reducing family caregiver stress.
Managing eating behavior changes:
Some individuals with dementia eat non-food items, wander during meals, become distracted and forget to eat, or develop very specific food preferences or aversions. Remove non-food items that might be mistaken for food. Create calm, quiet mealtime environments without television or other distractions.
Sit with your loved one during meals, eating together when possible. Social engagement during meals often improves intake. Cut food into small, manageable pieces to reduce choking risk. Offer frequent small meals if your loved one has trouble sitting through full meals.
Communication Strategies for Dementia Care
Effective Communication Techniques
Speaking with someone with dementia:
Communication challenges represent one of the most frustrating aspects of dementia care for Calgary families. As the disease progresses, individuals lose ability to find words, follow conversations, and express needs clearly. However, effective communication remains possible with adjusted approaches.
Approach from the front where you can be seen. Make eye contact and speak at eye level rather than standing over your loved one. Use simple, short sentences with one idea at a time. Speak slowly and clearly without shouting—dementia affects cognition, not hearing.
Ask yes-or-no questions rather than open-ended questions that require complex responses. Instead of “What would you like to eat?” try “Would you like a sandwich?” Provide visual cues along with words, pointing to objects you’re discussing.
When words fail:
As dementia advances, nonverbal communication becomes increasingly important. Pay attention to body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice—both yours and theirs. A gentle touch, warm smile, or reassuring presence often communicates more effectively than words.
Don’t argue or try to convince someone with dementia that their perception is wrong. If your mother insists she needs to pick up her children from school—though her “children” are now in their fifties—arguing about reality only creates distress. Instead, redirect: “They’re safe at a friend’s house. Let’s have tea while we wait.”
Validation and reassurance:
Individuals with dementia often express emotions disconnected from current reality. Your father might cry about his mother who died decades ago as if the loss just happened. Rather than correcting (“Dad, Grandma died 30 years ago”), validate the emotion: “You really miss your mother. Tell me about her.”
Validation acknowledges their emotional reality even when their cognitive reality is confused. This approach reduces agitation and creates connection even when logical communication fails.
Managing Challenging Dementia Behaviors at Home
Understanding Behavioral Changes
Why behaviors occur in dementia:
Behaviors that seem irrational or difficult often represent attempts to communicate unmet needs. Agitation might indicate pain, discomfort, hunger, or need for bathroom. Repetitive questions may reflect anxiety and need for reassurance. Wandering might represent boredom, seeking something familiar, or following old routines like going to work.
When challenging behaviors occur, become a detective. What happened right before the behavior? What time of day is it? Could physical needs be unmet? Is the environment overstimulating? Understanding triggers helps prevent future occurrences.
Common behavioral challenges in Calgary dementia care:
Sundowning affects many individuals with dementia, causing increased confusion, agitation, and restlessness during late afternoon and evening. The causes aren’t fully understood but may relate to fatigue, disrupted circadian rhythms, or reduced lighting creating shadows and confusion.
Repetitive behaviors including asking the same questions, following caregivers constantly, or repeatedly performing tasks often stem from anxiety, boredom, or seeking comfort in familiar actions. These behaviors can be exhausting for Calgary family caregivers but typically aren’t intentional or controllable by the person with dementia.
Aggression occasionally occurs during dementia, often during personal care activities or when individuals feel threatened, confused, or backed into corners. Aggression usually represents fear or frustration rather than intentional violence.
Strategies for Managing Difficult Behaviors
Responding to agitation and aggression:
Stay calm and speak in soothing tones. Your emotional state significantly affects your loved one—anxiety is contagious. Take deep breaths and project calm reassurance even if you don’t feel it internally.
Identify and remove triggers when possible. If bathing consistently triggers aggression, consider different times, approaches, or professional assistance. Avoid confrontation and arguing which escalate agitation. Redirect attention to different activities or topics.
Ensure physical safety during aggressive episodes. Give your loved one space—don’t corner them or block exits. Remove potential weapons. If aggression becomes dangerous or frequent, consult healthcare providers about possible medical causes or treatment options.
Managing wandering and exit-seeking:
Wandering represents one of the most dangerous dementia behaviors, particularly in Calgary’s harsh climate. Prevention strategies include regular physical exercise to reduce restless energy, engaging activities throughout the day, identifying and addressing wandering triggers, and creating secure environments while maintaining dignity.
If your loved one wanders, don’t restrain them physically unless immediate danger exists. Instead, walk with them while gently redirecting back home. Keep recent photos available for police if your loved one goes missing. Ensure your loved one wears identification with contact information.
Addressing repetitive questions and behaviors:
Repetitive questions exhaust family caregivers but distress won’t prevent the repetition—your loved one doesn’t remember asking. Answer patiently as if hearing the question for the first time. Write answers on notes they can reference. Consider whether underlying anxiety drives the repetition and address root concerns.
For repetitive behaviors like folding towels repeatedly or rearranging items, provide safe outlets. Give your loved one towels to fold, items to sort, or other activities channeling the repetitive urge productively.
Professional Support for Calgary Dementia Home Care
When to Seek Professional Dementia Care Help
Signs that additional support is needed:
Family caregivers can’t—and shouldn’t—provide dementia care alone indefinitely. Warning signs that professional support would help include caregiver physical or emotional burnout, safety incidents becoming frequent, behaviors family caregivers can’t manage safely, care needs exceeding family caregiver abilities or availability, and other family members or personal responsibilities being neglected due to caregiving demands.
Seeking help doesn’t represent failure or abandonment. Professional dementia care support often improves quality of life for both individuals with dementia and family caregivers while allowing meaningful family relationships to continue.
Types of professional dementia care services:
Companion care provides supervision, social engagement, and assistance with daily activities for individuals in early to moderate dementia stages. Companions engage individuals in meaningful activities, provide conversation, ensure safety, and give family caregivers respite.
Personal care assistance helps with bathing, dressing, toileting, and other intimate care tasks that often create stress between family members. Professional caregivers trained in dementia care can often accomplish these tasks more easily than family members.
Specialized dementia care provides advanced support from caregivers with specific dementia training. These professionals understand dementia progression, communication strategies, behavioral management, and safety considerations specific to cognitive impairment.
Choosing Dementia Care Providers in Calgary
What to look for in dementia caregivers:
Not all Calgary home care providers offer genuine dementia expertise. When evaluating options, ask about specific dementia training caregivers receive, experience level with different dementia types and stages, approaches to behavioral challenges, and consistency in caregiver assignment.
Meet potential caregivers before committing. Observe how they interact with your loved one. Do they speak directly to the person with dementia or only to family members? Do they show patience and respect? Does your loved one seem comfortable with them?
Questions for Calgary dementia care agencies:
Ask prospective agencies how they screen and train caregivers specifically for dementia care, what their caregiver-to-client ratios are, how they handle behavioral emergencies, whether they provide backup caregivers when regular staff are unavailable, and what their experience is with your loved one’s specific dementia type.
Request and check references from other Calgary families who have used their dementia care services. Understanding others’ experiences helps set realistic expectations and identify potential concerns.
Compassion Senior Care’s Dementia Support
Specialized Calgary dementia home care:
Compassion Senior Care provides dementia-specific home care throughout Calgary, supporting families at all disease stages. Our caregivers receive comprehensive dementia training covering communication techniques for different dementia stages, behavioral management strategies, safety awareness specific to cognitive impairment, and person-centered care approaches honoring individuals’ life histories and preferences.
We understand that dementia care involves the entire family, not just the individual with the diagnosis. Our services support both seniors with dementia and their family caregivers, recognizing that when caregivers receive support, everyone benefits.
Our dementia care services include personal care with dignity and respect, engaging activities tailored to current abilities, supervision ensuring safety without being restrictive, respite care giving family caregivers essential breaks, and coordination with healthcare providers and other services.
Calgary Resources for Dementia Care Families
Alzheimer Society of Calgary
Programs and services available:
The Alzheimer Society of Calgary provides invaluable resources for local families including education programs teaching dementia care strategies, support groups for both individuals with dementia and family caregivers, a First Link program connecting newly diagnosed individuals and families with resources, respite programs providing caregiver breaks, and navigation services helping families access appropriate care and support.
Take advantage of these free or low-cost resources. The knowledge and support gained can significantly improve your caregiving experience and quality of life for your loved one.
Healthcare Resources and Support
Calgary memory clinics:
Several Calgary facilities provide comprehensive memory assessments, diagnosis, and ongoing care coordination. The Geriatric Assessment and Consultation Team through Alberta Health Services offers specialized evaluation for seniors with cognitive concerns.
Accurate diagnosis proves essential for appropriate care planning, accessing resources, and understanding likely disease progression. Don’t delay evaluation if you have concerns about cognitive decline.
Home care support through Alberta Health Services:
Alberta Health Services provides some home care services for Albertans with dementia, including nursing care, personal care support, occupational therapy, and respite care. Services are based on assessed need rather than ability to pay.
Contact Health Link at 811 to begin the assessment process. Case managers evaluate needs and determine eligibility for publicly funded services. Many Calgary families combine AHS services with private care to meet all their needs.
Community Programs and Day Centers
Calgary adult day programs:
Several Calgary facilities offer adult day programs specifically designed for individuals with dementia. These programs provide structured activities, social engagement, meals, and supervision in safe, supportive environments while giving family caregivers daytime respite.
Dementia-specific day programs understand the unique needs of cognitive impairment and train staff in appropriate communication and behavioral management. Programs typically operate weekdays during business hours.
Support groups for Calgary dementia caregivers:
Connecting with other families facing similar challenges reduces isolation and provides practical advice from those who truly understand. The Alzheimer Society coordinates various support groups throughout Calgary for different circumstances—spouses caring for partners, adult children caring for parents, early-stage support groups, and specific dementia type support groups.
Online support options also exist for Calgary caregivers unable to attend in-person groups. Virtual connections provide similar benefits with greater scheduling flexibility.
Financial Planning for Dementia Home Care
Understanding Long-Term Care Costs
Dementia care financial considerations:
Dementia’s progressive nature means care costs typically increase over time as needs intensify. Early planning helps families prepare financially for escalating expenses while your loved one can still participate in financial decisions.
Costs vary dramatically based on care level required, frequency of professional care services, whether care is provided at home or in facilities, and which services are covered by Alberta Health Services versus private pay.
Planning for progressive expenses:
Create financial projections for different care scenarios—current needs, moderate progression, and significant care increases. This planning helps families understand how long current resources can sustain care and when difficult financial decisions might arise.
Consult with financial planners experienced in elder care costs. Professional guidance helps optimize resources, minimize taxes, and identify funding sources families might not know about independently.
Accessing Financial Support
Government programs and benefits:
Various government programs may help offset dementia care costs including Alberta Supports for Seniors, Disability Tax Credit for qualifying individuals, CPP Disability Benefits in early-onset dementia, and tax deductions for medical expenses including home care services.
Research available programs thoroughly as eligibility rules and application processes can be complex. Social workers or case managers can often help navigate these systems.
Insurance and private funding sources:
Review long-term care insurance policies, extended health benefits, and private insurance for potential dementia care coverage. Veterans Affairs Canada provides benefits for eligible veterans and spouses. Some employer benefit plans include home care coverage worth investigating.
Family Caregiver Self-Care in Dementia Care
Preventing Caregiver Burnout
The unique stress of dementia caregiving:
Dementia caregiving differs from other caregiving situations in important ways. The person you’re caring for is changing—losing memories, personality, and the ability to reciprocate care or even recognize you. This progressive loss creates anticipatory grief alongside daily caregiving stress.
Dementia behaviors—repetitive questions, accusations, aggression, wandering—trigger frustration and exhaustion even in the most dedicated caregivers. The 24/7 nature of dementia care, particularly in later stages, leaves little room for rest or personal time.
Essential self-care strategies:
Accept help when offered and actively seek support rather than waiting until crisis. Use respite care regularly, not just during emergencies. Maintain your own health through regular medical care, adequate sleep, exercise, and proper nutrition.
Stay connected with friends and maintain interests outside caregiving. Join support groups where you can express frustrations honestly without judgment. Consider counseling to process the grief and stress inherent in dementia caregiving.
Maintaining Your Identity Beyond Caregiver
Preserving self while caregiving:
Many Calgary dementia caregivers lose themselves in the caregiver role, especially spouses who defined their identity through their relationship with their partner. Maintaining aspects of your identity beyond caregiving proves essential for emotional health.
Engage in hobbies or interests, even briefly. Maintain friendships requiring you to be someone other than a caregiver. Pursue activities that remind you of who you were before dementia entered your lives.
Set boundaries around caregiving even though dementia needs feel endless. You’re entitled to personal time, privacy, and life beyond caregiving. These aren’t luxuries—they’re necessities for sustaining care long-term.
Looking Ahead: Planning for Progressive Dementia Care
Advance Care Planning
Having difficult conversations early:
During early dementia stages while your loved one can still participate in decisions, discuss important topics including healthcare preferences and advance directives, financial planning and power of attorney, living arrangements and long-term care preferences, and funeral and end-of-life wishes.
These conversations feel uncomfortable but prove invaluable later when your loved one can no longer express their wishes. Document decisions legally through appropriate legal instruments including power of attorney, personal directives, and wills.
Legal and financial preparation:
Ensure legal documents are properly executed while your loved one has capacity to sign them. Consult with elder law attorneys who understand dementia-specific concerns. Review and update documents as circumstances change.
Organize financial information, important documents, and account access information. Simplify financial management by consolidating accounts and automating payments where possible.
When Home Care Is No Longer Sustainable
Recognizing when facility care is needed:
Many Calgary families successfully provide home-based dementia care through all disease stages, but some ultimately determine that facility placement offers better options. This decision doesn’t represent failure—it represents realistic assessment of needs versus available resources.
Consider facility care when safety cannot be maintained at home despite professional support, caregiver health is seriously compromised by caregiving demands, behaviors require specialized management beyond home capabilities, or 24-hour care needs exceed family and professional home care resources.
Residential dementia care in Calgary:
Calgary offers various residential dementia care options including assisted living with dementia wings, specialized dementia care facilities, nursing homes with dementia units, and hospice care for end-stage dementia.
Tour facilities and ask detailed questions about dementia-specific training, staffing ratios, activities and engagement programs, and approaches to behavioral management. Many Calgary facilities welcome family involvement and encourage families to remain active participants in care even after placement.
Conclusion: You Can Provide Dementia Care at Home
Thomas and Mary, whose story opened this article, celebrated their 55th anniversary last month. Mary no longer remembers their wedding day, often doesn’t recognize their grandchildren, and requires extensive daily assistance. But she’s still at home in the house where they raised their children, surrounded by familiar things, cared for by the man she’s loved for over five decades.
“Is it hard? Absolutely,” Thomas acknowledges. “Some days I wonder if I can continue. But then Mary smiles at me—even when she doesn’t know my name—and I remember why this matters. With help from professional caregivers, support groups, and our family, we’re making it work. She’s home, which is what she wanted. And I’m keeping my promise to care for her.”
Key truths about dementia home care:
Dementia care at home is challenging but absolutely possible with proper support, resources, and realistic expectations. Thousands of Calgary families successfully provide dementia care at home throughout the disease course.
You don’t have to do it alone. Professional dementia care services, support groups, community resources, and medical support create networks that make home-based dementia care sustainable.
Dementia care looks different in every family. There’s no single right way to provide dementia care. What works depends on your loved one’s specific needs, family circumstances, and available resources.
Your wellbeing matters too. You cannot provide quality dementia care while neglecting your own physical and emotional health. Self-care and accepting support aren’t selfish—they’re essential.
Plans can change. Committing to home-based dementia care now doesn’t mean you must continue regardless of circumstances. Flexibility allows you to adjust care plans as needs and resources change.
Taking the first steps:
If you’re beginning the dementia care journey, start by educating yourself about dementia and available Calgary resources. Connect with the Alzheimer Society and join support groups. Create safe home environments and establish routines that work for your family.
Build your support team early including healthcare providers who understand dementia, professional home care services, family and friends willing to help, and community resources providing respite and support.
Most importantly, be gentle with yourself. You’re navigating one of life’s most difficult challenges. Some days will go well; others will feel impossible. That’s normal. What matters is that you’re showing up with love and commitment while seeking the support you need to sustain this important work.
Dementia care at home isn’t about perfection—it’s about providing love, dignity, and quality of life in familiar surroundings for as long as possible while maintaining your own wellbeing along the way.
If your Calgary family needs support with dementia care at home, Compassion Senior Care can help. Our dementia-trained caregivers understand the unique challenges you face and provide compassionate, skilled support that makes home-based dementia care sustainable. We’re here to help you keep your loved one home safely while giving you the respite and support you need.
Need help with dementia care at home in Calgary? Contact Compassion Senior Care today for a free consultation. Our specialized dementia caregivers provide the skilled support your family needs to make home-based care successful and sustainable. Let us help you navigate this journey with compassion and expertise.
