3 Important Interview Questions for Memory Assisted Living
One in every 10 people over the age of 65 is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia. That equates to at least 5.8 million Americans this year and the number will continue to grow every year. To address this growing statistic, more memory assisted living facilities are now available all over the country to cater to the needs of seniors who require specialized care due to memory loss. To ensure that a senior gets the level of care that fits his needs, the healthcare team usually conducts an interview with these three common interview questions:
How do you feel about your memory now?
This question is aimed at determining the level of awareness a senior has about his current memory state. In a study, all of the subjects expressed their awareness that their memory is not as good as it used to be.
Most of them have challenges with short-term memory function and they attribute it mostly to an existing medical condition. On the other hand, their long-term memory is a lot better, although most seniors feel that it would also start to deteriorate over time.
When did you start to notice that you’re becoming more forgetful?
It’s very important for healthcare staff to ask this question to know exactly when memory loss began manifesting itself, which will hopefully be a factor in diagnosing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Most seniors would know when their memory starts to fail them, especially when they start to forget even the most routine and mundane tasks like where they placed their keys or if they already took their medication.
This will allow healthcare staff in memory assisted living to determine the right healthcare plan that will meet the level of care needed by an individual.
How do you feel about losing your memory?
Memory loss is a difficult reality to accept for seniors because it makes them feel hopeless and helpless because they have no control over it. This is why it’s very important to ask this question to acknowledge their feelings about this difficult time in their life and let them know that they are not alone.
Memory assisted living has the primary goal of helping seniors going through memory loss due to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease to accept their condition and not let it define the rest of their life.
Asking this question is the first step to achieving that goal and it will also allow healthcare teams to know exactly how to deal with the elderly to help him go through this journey and still enjoy the best quality of life possible.
With the growing elderly population that’s predicted to overpower the younger population for the first time in history, the role of memory assisted living is more important now than ever.
As with any area in healthcare, interview questions are always the first step to making sure that excellent quality care is given to every senior going through memory loss and other related conditions.
Richmont Senior Living is proud to serve Ashland, NE and the surrounding cities: Memphis, Springfield, South Bend, Greenwood, Murdock, Waverly, Murdock, Ithaca, and Chalco