Jingle Bells…Or Should That Be Alarm Bells?

It’s that time of year again…a time for giving, a time for eating, a time for drinking, and a time for celebrating with your family. The whole family gathers together, to give each other thoughtful and beautifully wrapped presents, eat Mum’s delicious home-cooked food, sample Dad’s latest home-brew, admire the beautifully decorated tree and watch a couple of blockbusters on the TV.

By Guest Author Tamar Krebs, CEO of Group Homes Australia

But something’s not quite right. The tree is askew and the decorations are misplaced. Mum’s cooking doesn’t taste quite the same – she forgot the sugar in the Christmas cake and didn’t peel the potatoes. Dad can’t seem to recall whether he has actually made a home-brew this year, and his Christmas T-shirt is on back to front. And the thoughtful gifts are, well, just not that thoughtful. And a couple of the grandchildren don’t seem to have any at all.

You haven’t seen your parents for over 6 months. You’ve been busy – you live in another state. Work is crazy, the kids have been having problems at school, you’ve been trying to sell the house. But, it’s Christmas, and you can all come together as a family and spend some quality time together. It’s a special time of year, but suddenly instead of focusing on how many calories are in a mince pie, and whether Santa really will fit down the chimney, you are filled with sadness and anxiety as you realise your parents are not getting any younger and are starting to show symptoms of… well… dementia.

Or maybe you currently care for a parent living with dementia and are dreading the festive season as a time when you will be confronted by memories of previous Christmases, before the devastating diagnosis of dementia hit your family. Either way, Tamar Krebs, CEO and founder of Group Homes Australia has some great advice for making the most of this festive season.

If you know that replicating the Christmas of the last 30 years is going to be a huge strain on your parents, shake it up a bit. Bring food in, or offer to do the cooking. Instead of eating in, head to the beach and use the public BBQ. Use the tree decoration as a task for the children in the family. Offer to get cleaners in before everyone descends to alleviate the pressure of preparing the family home for guests. “Try and focus on creating new memories and living in the moment, rather than focussing on how things “used to be”. Celebrate what your parents can do, rather than what they can no longer do” Tamar advises. “Do not waste time and energy worrying about whether Mum or Dad will be around for next Christmas, but instead enjoy the fact that they are around for this Christmas. Be sure to tell them how much you love them and how happy you are to be spending this Christmas with them.”

Christmas is also a popular time for reminiscing. If you are spending Christmas with someone living with dementia, looking at old photo albums or mementoes is a very powerful tool to help remind that person of who they are, what they were capable of, and what makes them unique, rather than just being a person who is living with a diagnosis of dementia.

Not everyone who is living with dementia has family around to help care for them. Suicide rates peak at this time of year as it can be an incredibly lonely and isolating experience if you are not surrounded by friends and family.  If you know someone who is living with dementia who will be alone this Christmas, please reach out to them and include them in your celebrations.

If you would like to consider respite care for someone you care for who is living with dementia this Christmas, Group Homes Australia should be your first port of call. Group Homes Australia offers a unique model of care for people living with dementia. Residents live in real, warm and friendly, homes with a maximum of 10 residents, cared for by a team of homemakers and resident nurses. With an average staff to resident ratio of 1 to 3, and a wide variety of glowing testimonials from the likes of Ita Buttrose, Kate Swaffer and numerous resident families, Group Homes Australia offers an unparalleled quality of care, which leaves you free to relax and enjoy the festive season, knowing you couldn’t have chosen a better place for your friend or relative to enjoy the festive season.

Respite care is available for only $295 a day, but there is very limited availability. Group Homes Australia can be contacted on 1300 015 406.

Click here to find out more about Group Homes Australia's aged care residences.