A good day is one where we stay safely hydrated.
Research tells us that many people living with dementia are dehydrated or at risk of dehydration. The regular mechanisms the body uses to indicate dehydration, such as thirst, don’t work as well when we get older. This is even more pronounced for people living with dementia. Staff awareness and training can help reduce the risk.
This month's big idea is Staying Hydrated. We want to facilitate this via three fundamental techniques that all work together:
- Don’t wait
- Hydrate
- Stick to thick when needed
There are two key types of dehydration we want to focus on. Sometimes people lose a lot of fluid suddenly when they are unwell, usually due to vomiting and diarrhea. We can call this acute dehydration. Fortunately, it is not so common. What is more frequent is that people aren’t drinking enough over an extended period of time. One of the questions we want to ask is, 'Are they staying on top of their hydration'?
This month we invite you to join us for a presentation about hydration and dementia. This 35-minute presentation comes from our Dementia STARs programme. You can find out more about Dementia STARs here.