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60849

CMHC - Home to Canadians

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is the Government of Canada's national housing agency. We help Canadians gain access to a wide choice of quality, affordable homes. Our mortgage loan insurance program has helped many Canadians realize their dream of owning a home. We provide financial assistance to help Canadians most in need to gain access to safe, affordable housing.Through our research, we encourage innovation in housing design and technology, community planning, housing choice and finance. We also work in partnership with industry and other Team Canada members to sell Canadian products and expertise in foreign markets, thereby creating jobs for Canadians here at home. We offer a wide variety of information products to consumers and the housing industry to help them make informed purchasing and business decisions.With Canada's most comprehensive selection of information about housing and homes, we are Canada's largest publisher of housing information. In everything that we do, we are helping to improve the quality of life for Canadians in communities across this country. We are helping Canadians live in safe, secure homes. CMHC is home to Canadians. Canadians can easily access our information through retail outlets and CMHC's regional offices. You can also reach us by phone at 1 800 668-2642 (outside Canada call (613) 748-2003) By fax at 1 800 245-9274 (outside Canada (613) 748-4069) To reach us online, visit our home page at www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca

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CANADIAN CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA Main entry under title: At home with Alzheimers disease: useful adaptations to the home environment Text in English and French with French text on inverted pages. Title on added t.p.: La maladie dAlzheimer chez soi. ISBN 0-662-57987-9 DSS cat. no. NH15-48/1990 60849 1. Aged Canada Dwellings. 2. Alzheimers disease. I. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. II. Title: La maladie dAlzheimer chez soi. HD7287.C3A8 1990 363.5975 C91-098510-3E

1990 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing no portion of this book may be translated from English into any other language without the prior written permission of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Revised 1992. Reprinted 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001 Printed in Canada Produced by CMHC

A Study on Adapting Private Dwellings to Alzheimers Disease About 80 percent of people with Alzheimers Disease live at home with a caregiver, usually a husband or wife. To learn how caregivers adapt their homes to suit both their patients behaviour and their own needs, a national study was carried out in 1988. The focus of the study was on the practical physical changes made to private dwellings to accommodate the behaviour of persons with Alzheimers Disease and the special needs of their caregivers. The purpose of gathering and reporting this information was to provide Alzheimers caregivers with helpful ideas about practical changes they could make to their homes. The information was gathered by means of elephone and face-to-face interviews across Canada and a national mail-out survey of caregivers of persons with Alzheimers Disease. The study was carried out by Nancy Gnaedinger, a consultant in gerontology in Ottawa, and was funded by the External Research Program of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Put away power tools, scissors and any other items that the AD person can no longer use safely, such as liquor, fans, keys, lamps with cords, firearms, lighters and matches, glassware from the china cabinet, and small electrical appliances (such as hair dryers).

Contact your local Alzheimer Society of Canada www.alzheimer.ca It is very important for people in the community to be able to identify AD persons. Their name and address should be clearly marked on an identification bracelet, which they wear at all times. Get all the help that you can from family, neighbours, shopkeepers and hired helpers of every description. Where handicapped stickers can be obtained for the caregiver, apply one to your car so that you can park closer to shops when out with your patient. If you are a spouse-caregiver, go out with another couple so that someone of the same sex can take the AD person to the washroom. Get a visiting nurse to give baths rather than risk a back injury. Notify your neighbours and the police of your patients conditions and ask them to alert you if the AD person is seen wandering.

Other useful Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation information sources CMHC offers a wide range of housing-related information. For your copy of CMHCs catalogue of publications and videos, call 1 800 668-2642 or contact your local CMHC office. Housing Options for People with Dementia 60967 Planning Housing and Support Services for Seniors60943 Housing for Older Canadians60961