The number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease doubles every five years beyond age 65.

A family may choose to keep the elder at home during Alzheimer’s early stage. Symptoms include confusion of time and place, short-term memory loss, difficulty with routine tasks, and mood swings. The elder will eventually require assistance from outside healthcare experts.

“Home healthcare provides healthcare needs in the place of residence,” said Donna Zahnow, director of Clinical Operations and Services for Gentiva Health Services in Tacoma and Bremerton. “Residences include private homes and assisted living and Alzheimer’s communities.”

Gentiva offers skilled nursing, physical, occupational, neurological and speech therapies, home health aides and personal care assistants. A family may choose to keep home healthcare till the elder passes away.

During Alzheimer’s early stage, the family may choose an assisted living community. Assisted living is also a good option for a couple, when one has Alzheimer’s. Assisted living services at Bay Pointe Retirement Community and Claremont East, Bremerton, and Liberty Shores, Poulsbo, include three meals daily, housekeeping, linen service, social activities, transportation, and an emergency call system with 24-hour staffing.

As Alzheimer’s progresses, personal safety is endangered by confusion of time, place and persons, wandering, acute short-term memory loss, loss of logic and language, falling and paranoia. The spouse, with Alzheimer’s, moves into an Alzheimer’s community. The other spouse may continue assisted living, freely participating in meals and activities in the Alzheimer’s community. Claremont East offers a connected Alzheimer’s wing. Liberty Shores’ offers a connected wing, called Harbor House Alzheimer’s Community. Bay Pointe offers a nearby, separate facility, called Marine Courte Memory Care Community.

“If separation is hard, both spouses may live at Marine Courte,” said Krista Marti, administrator of Bay Pointe and Marine Courte. “We tailor our program according to residents’ needs—not according to staff’s convenience.”

“Claremont East offers a continuum of care,” said Barbara Pearson, assistant administrator at Claremont East. “We are introducing Encore Plus, an alternative to nursing-home living. Residents who have advanced stages of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, who no longer wander, can thrive safely. Encore Plus’s monthly rate is competitive.”

“We remodeled studio apartments, furnishing them with hospital beds,” Pearson said. “The nursing ratio is 1 to 10. The certified nursing assistant ratio is 1 to 5. Residents wear medical-alert necklaces, which ring into our nursing station.”

“The majority of residents at Harbor House come from within a five-mile radius,” said Sigrid Howard, administrator of Liberty Shores and Harbor House.

“I teach coping skills to their families,” said Cathryn Goller, director of nursing. “An example is relating in the moment, carrying a conversation where their loved one is at — maybe in their childhood.”

Goller facilitates the Alzheimer’s support group monthly, on the third Wednesday, at 2 p.m.

“Our staff applies the Gentle Care Philosophy,” Howard said. “We center living activities, like mealtime, around the residents’ rhythms.”

The Kitsap Peninsula Senior Resources Directory publishes a list of Alzheimer’s communities. The directory is available at senior centers, or call 866-379-3710 for a copy.