Community Blog

What Can We Still Enjoy Together? Familiar Music and Ordinary Connection at Home

What Can We Still Enjoy Together? Familiar Music and Ordinary Connection at Home Conversation can become harder as dementia progresses. You arrive, you ask how the week has been, and the answer does not come, or it comes and belongs to a different year. A visit can feel unfamiliar when the conversations you used to...

Why Am I Grieving When My Parent Is Still Here? Anticipatory Grief in Ann Arbor Families

Why Am I Grieving When My Parent Is Still Here? Anticipatory Grief in Ann Arbor Families Families reach a point where they feel a loss they cannot easily explain to anyone. Your mother is alive. She is in the next room. You spoke with her this morning. Something in you is already mourning, and you...

Thanksgiving With a Parent Who Has Dementia: Planning a Smaller Gathering in Ann Arbor

For many families, Thanksgiving is the one day of the year when everyone is in the same room. That is exactly what makes it hard when a parent is living with dementia. The noise, the number of faces, the long afternoon, and the break from ordinary routine can all be more than a person can...

When Family Members Disagree About a Parent's Care: A Guide for Ann Arbor Families

Few things test a family like the moment an aging parent begins to need more help than they once did. One sibling notices the unopened mail and the missed appointments. Another visits on a good day and sees a parent who is managing well enough. A third lives across the country and hears about everything...

Sundowning at Home: A Gentle Evening Guide for Ann Arbor Families

Sundowning at Home: A Gentle Evening Guide for Ann Arbor Families An evening can become difficult before anyone has finished making dinner. Your parent may be asking to go home while sitting in the house where they have lived for years. They may be walking from room to room, looking worried, or finding it harder...

MI Choice Waiver in Washtenaw County: Where to Begin When Paying for Care at Home Feels Out of Reach

MI Choice Waiver in Washtenaw County: Where to Begin When Paying for Care at Home Feels Out of Reach Working out how to pay for care can be difficult while you are still trying to understand how much help your parent needs. You may be looking at the hours between breakfast and dinner, wondering who...

Fall Prevention at Home: A Room-by-Room Guide for Ann Arbor Families

A fall can change the rhythm of life at home very quickly. A family may be thinking about hospital discharge, a parent who has become afraid to walk, or a small change that makes getting around harder. The home is one place to begin. Clear walking paths, better lighting and a conversation with the care...

Respite Care in Washtenaw County: How Family Caregivers Get a Real Break

A family caregiver may be looking for something very simple: one night of sleep without listening for a parent who might need help. Another may need an afternoon for a medical appointment, or a few days to recover from their own illness. When care takes up most of the day and part of the night,...

Caregiver Burnout in Washtenaw County: The Signs You're Past Your Limit and Where to Find Real Help

The phone calls I take from family caregivers usually happen at odd hours: late in the evening after the parent has finally gone to sleep, early in the morning before the day starts, or in a quick call from the car after leaving the pharmacy. There’s a particular tone to those calls, and after a...