Resources to help caregivers for those with Alzheimer's disease

Thank you Mr Wentz. I ordered the book from Amazon

I highly recommend The Caregiver Helpbook, Powerful Tools for Caregivers. It's a handout if you can go to a Powerful Tools for Caregivers class. If you can't, it's available online from Amazon and maybe others.

The class and the helpbook do just what the title says, it gives you powerful tools to help you in your caregiver role. It includes helping you to develop action plans for each week to help you accomplish your current objectives. An important part of it is to help you take good care of yourself. That's essential if you want to continue to be able to take care of your loved one.

@fwentz You will notice that I moved your "Caregiver Helpbook" discussion with the "Resources to help caregivers for those with Alzheimer's disease" discussion. I also linked this discussion in both the Caregivers and the Caregivers Dementia groups. I did this so that you could connect with members like @burnt2acrisp @dbrhdarby and @rosez, in one central location.

Would you tell me how this book helps you care for your loved one?

It was used as part of the Powerful Tools for Caregivers class that I took. Here's a website that explains the class and can show anyone when there will be a class in their area. I believe some classes may be online which might be more convenient for some.
https://www.powerfultoolsforcaregivers.org/
As I recall we met once a week for 6 weeks. The course was led by a local leader in the Alzheimer's Association along with a director of a local memory care facility. It was clear that they both had lot of experience with Alzheimer's patients at all stages of the disease. The classes also became a support group because many class members had good experience of the behavior or situation that we were discussing. The exchange between class members was also very helpful as in other support groups.

During the 6 weeks of the class, the class instructor would have us individually prepare an action plan to use for the following week before the next class. The help book provided some tools to do that. The course was designed to help us get used to a program to define an objective, describe our plan to accomplish it, and specify how we would measure it For example, each caregiver might decide that the objective this week is to implement action to become more physically fit. I'll get aerobic exercise by walking at least a half hour at least 3 times a week, I'll do stretching exercises at least 10 minutes twice a week, and do some strengthening exercises at least twice a week. I'll keep track of what I do and at the end of the week plan to report it to the class at our next meeting.

After the class, the book was a very helpful reference book. Many times as a new problem to solve came up in my caregiving of my wife, I went to the book and often found a useful suggestion to help manage the newest challenge.

Here are some additional websites that might be helpful:
— ‘Google’ : housing help for seniors and/or disabled; adult day care;
— https://www.usa.gov/housing: elder care locator, Fair Housing Act, HUD approved housing counselors
— Medicare.gov: *State Medical Assistance Office; elder care locator 800-677-1116; * home health compare
— National Institute on Aging. https://www.nia.nih.gov/
— caregiver.com: safety tips, community-find programs and services near you https://caregiver.com/
— AgingCare.com strategies for coping with caregiver stress https://www.agingcare.com/articles/strategies-for-coping-with-caregiver-stress-135916.htm
— Mayo Clinic. Tips for taking care of yourself https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/caregiver-stress/art-20044784
— Caregiver Action Network https://caregiveraction.org/
— National Alliance for Caregiving https://www.caregiving.org/
— National Association of Area Agencies on Aging https://www.n4a.org/
— Aging and Disability Resource Centers https://acl.gov/programs/aging-and-disability-networks/aging-and-disability-resource-centers
— National Council on Aging https://www.ncoa.org/

Please add to this list!