Dementia and Alzheimer's care at home

What dementia care at home involves

• A predictable routine, gently kept, so the day feels familiar.
• Redirecting confusion or agitation without arguing or correcting.
• Watching for wandering, and keeping doors, stoves and medicines in mind.
• Help with eating, bathing, dressing and the toilet as the illness progresses.
• Keeping you informed, so the family is never the last to know.

Questions worth asking a caregiver

• Tell me about someone with dementia you cared for. What worked in the late afternoon?
• What do you do when someone insists on going home when they are already home?
• How do you handle a refusal to bathe or to take medication?
• Have you cared for someone through the later stages?

Consistency matters more than anything

For someone with dementia, a rotating cast of strangers is its own harm. Look for one or two people who can commit to the same days and hours, and say so plainly when you describe the care.

How Kalvri helps you find them

Kalvri is an iPhone app, not an agency. You say what the care really looks like, and Kalvri ranks every caregiver whose hours, skills, languages, distance and rate fit, with the reason each one was chosen. Each morning it suggests the one who fits best.

• What you require comes first. Everyone who can cover your hours, your budget and the care you described is ranked ahead of anyone who can't, and somebody who has said no to something you need is never suggested.
• Each caregiver arrives with the reason they were chosen, in plain words. What they told Kalvri is labelled as theirs, because Kalvri verifies nothing.
• When you both say yes, a private conversation opens. Ask for references, ask for a time, and decide for yourself.
• You agree the rate with your caregiver and pay them directly. Kalvri takes no fee and no cut.