Dementia testing is one of the services we offer at the Center for Effective Living. For those who have older parents or relatives who appear to be exhibiting symptoms of dementia or Alzheimer’s, it can be extremely beneficial to have an official diagnosis. Knowing what you’re dealing with as early as possible empowers both potential caregivers and those who may need care with help navigating the path ahead– both in terms of treatment and in making provisions for legal guardianship when needed.
Alzheimers.net offers a helpful overview of how and when to gain guardianship for a parent with Alzheimer’s that we thought was with sharing here. There’s an excerpt below, followed by a link to the full article.
If you live in the greater Cleveland area and would like to inquire about dementia testing, we hope you’ll reach out to us.
Caregivers for people with Alzheimer’s disease often reach a point when they realize their loved one is unable to make rational or informed decisions. If their parent is cooperative and easy going, this incapacity may not be a problem. But if it’s coupled with a tendency to stubbornly refuse assistance or care, it can be dangerous. This is when guardianship can be an important tool for families. Guardianship also can be required when a person with Alzheimer’s or dementia is no longer able to legally sign power of attorney documents due to mental incapacitation.
Guardianship gives you the legal right to make decisions for a parent or loved one with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Guardianship is obtained through a court proceeding and granted by a judge.
When Guardianship is Required
The elderly parent who lives alone in an unsafe condition but who refuses assistance is an archetypal character in the world of the senior advocacy. For instance, imagine a senior named Elda who has Alzheimer’s disease:
Elda’s grown children became concerned because she’s living alone with Advanced Alzheimer’s. Elda recently left the stove on again and started a minor, but very smokey kitchen fire. Her children unplugged the oven, so she’s been eating generic goldfish crackers and Pepsi (refusing the meal delivery her children attempted to arrange). She has sundowners and often wanders the not-so-safe neighborhood at night looking for a corner-store that closed 20 years ago. She has lost $20,000 and counting to Nigerian email scammers. And she recently fell, bruising her hip badly after tripping on a box of old newspapers in her cluttered apartment. Her children know she’s a disaster waiting to happen.
If Elda continues to refuse assistance in this situation, the best option for her family would be to seek guardianship.