Learning that a family member has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia is only one of the many startling realities families and caregivers face. Changes in lifestyle and in living arrangements, medical and legal issues, coping with behavioral problems and diminished abilities will be difficult and frustrating. Learning to balance caregiving duties and other responsibilities will be stressful and exhausting.

While information on Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias is available through other sources, a tremendous gap exists. Fact sheets offer very limited information, and with the heightened research, books often become outdated shortly after they are printed. C-Mac Informational Services, Inc., fills the information gap by bringing all forms of relevant information together for the caregiver.

Caregiver News, our free newsletter, is available to caregivers, family members, professionals and others concerned with planning and/or providing daily care for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias. Caregiver News contains information relative to coping and caring strategies, caregiver tips and techniques, medical and legal issues, services and professionals available to help caregivers. Special attention is given to new developments in research for the treatment and care of Alzheimer’s disease. (FREE)

The Caregiver’s Information-Pack, our booklet containing important information for families of newly diagnosed Alzheimer’s patients, covers topics including: an overview of Alzheimer’s disease; what to expect; symptoms and stages of Alzhemer’s disease; planning ahead; coping at home, making the home safe; adult day care and respite care; techniques for working with dementia patients; characteristic behaviors and how to cope; caregiver stress; illness, injury, and medications; dementia and driving; selecting an Elder Law attorney; advance directives; and assisted living or nursing home placement. ($9.95)

Our Fun & Easy Everyday Cookbook recognizes that caregivers of those afflicted with dementia have limited time to plan or prepare meals. We endeavor to help make meal planning and preparation a littler easier. We offer easy to follow recipies for every day and special occasion meals. ($12.95)

Ask any caregiver how caring for an AD patient affects all aspects of one’s life and you’ll be surprised to find out just how drastic the changes in day-to-day living can be. As the patient becomes more impaired, it becomes a full-time occupation to provide appropriate care. It’s more than a matter of dressing, feeding, and toileting the patient. It’s constant, minute-to-minute care, supervision, and entertainment. Care at home is often very difficult and demanding. A spouse or adult child may be overburdened with the responsibilities of cooking, marketing, cleaning, and doing laundry for the AD patient, and the rest of the family, while keeping a constant vigil to safeguard the patient. The caregiver must also provide entertainment and social activities for the patient. And he or she must remember that although the patient is acting like a difficult, uncooperative child, he or she is an adult who was once capable and independent.

To prepare the home for an AD patient, one must imagine the things that would need to be done if a child lived there. Safety locks on kitchen cabinets, gadgets on windows and doors to limit how far they can be opened, labeling drawers and closets to indicate their contents, removing knobs from stoves, and keeping medication, cleaning and other hazardous supplies out of reach are among the things requiring attention. Additionally, caregivers should provide patients with identification bracelets, or other identification jewelry, in case the patient wanders off and gets lost. In spite of all the precautions, as the patient’s condition worsens, the family may have to consider getting outside help or moving the patient into an institutionalized setting.