The following roadmap is what the dementia journey looks like.
Its like the table of contents of your favorite book. When reading your book, you will always be on a page that falls under one of the topics or content sections of the book. Similarly, at any point in time during an individual’s dementia journey, he or she (or family members) will be in one of these phases of the disease process. We like to view dementia as a disability in order to look at the situation from a place of hope or what the individual can do, vs what he/she cannot do.
- Something is off
- Locate resources
- Find out what’s wrong
- Look for answers
- Get help
- Find counselor/guide/coach
- Get a diagnosis
- Make a plan
- Build a team
- Financial
- Private pay
- Medicaid
- Everyone in between
- Legal
- Estate plan
- POA
- Caregiver education/support
- At home support/keep family together
- Living options – home, or long term care
- End of life – funeral, cremation, private service
- Resource List
- Gather data (ongoing)
- Decision points (ongoing)