A person’s living rooms should be comfortable and make them feel welcome. Here are some things to consider for keeping a person with dementia as comfortable as possible. While also keeping them safe.
Make sure chairs are comfortable and offer good support. Assistive furniture, which helps people stand up and sit down, can be very useful – although sometimes expensive.
Voice assistants (such as Google, Alexa or Siri) can be useful, if a person starts to use them early in their dementia. If the Person is not familiar with these however then they can be confusing and frightening.
The living room can be a good place to put up photos of family, to reassure the person with dementia, and to act as memory aids. While supporting somebody with dementia it is good practice to keep referring to photographs and to family mementoes and to discuss aspects of the person’s life as much as possible.
It is a good idea to take away any electric fires or heaters that could be accidentally left on, or tripped over. If the person tends to get cold, leave a blanket in easy reach on their chair.
As with all rooms, made sure there is no clutter and as far as possible rugs and any excess furniture should be removed or moved out of the way.