Everyone in the Netherlands with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia is entitled to a dementia case manager. The case manager helps people with dementia and their carers with explanations about dementia, practical advice and emotional support.
For people with dementia and their carers, the case manager is a support and rock in difficult times. Once diagnosed with dementia, you enter a new world. Together you have to make decisions, process changes and face uncertainties. The case manager can ease and guide this process from the sidelines with advice and support. The case manager knows – very conveniently – how to navigate the maze of institutions and organizations in the region and can mediate in arranging appropriate care.
Make the difference
Ghis Boot (54) is a case manager in Den Bosch and the surrounding area at care provider Vivent. How intensively she is involved with one family is not predetermined. Sometimes she’s with a family three times a week, and then maybe once every eight weeks for a while, when all care is back on track. She can make a difference for families, she knows from her own experience.
For example, if not everyone is on the same page. Does father have to go to the nursing home yet? Or is it not necessary yet? If she manages to come up with a solution that is acceptable to all parties as an involved outsider, her day will be bright. Sometimes she makes a home visit when the person with dementia has gone to day care, just to consult with the partner or carers. Boot: “But never behind the dementia person’s back. I’ll make sure they know about it.”
What’s the benefit?
A case manager is useful, as a national evaluation in 2012 of, among others, the Trimbos Institute showed. With the help of a dementia case manager, informal carers learn to better deal with the anger, fear and confusion of their loved one with dementia. Informal carers no longer feel that they have nowhere to go with their problems and there are demonstrably fewer emergency visits to the GP. And very important: carers feel less lonely and deprived.
Where can I find a case manager?
A dementia case manager is usually a district nurse, specializing in dementia. She (or he) works closely with other district nurses and carers, but also with the general practitioner and any other care providers. Ask your GP or geriatrician for support from a case manager. Your health insurer reimburses the case manager from the basic insurance. There may be a waiting list in your area. If this is the case, report this to the health insurer, because they have a duty of care and can take action. Read all about Alzheimer’s in our online file.
How to recognize dementia
