CURLY AND CANDID

Dealing with a family member who had dementia can be incredibly difficult. Dementia is a debilitating illness and it can have a huge impact on the people who suffer as well as those around them. Dealing with a neurological illness such as this can be difficult and we often need to make preparations for a new lifestyle.

This post looks at dementia at home and how you can prepare your home to handle this. This is not an exhaustive resource by any means. If you have any concerns about your health or that of a family member please see the GP initially for aid and signposting towards additional support services.

Let in the light

Light can be a great way to stimulate the mind, and for those with dementia, it can help keep their minds active and on task.

Close Curtains at Night

This has two purposes for those living with dementia. The first reason to close the drapes at night is to tell the person that it is night time and therefore that they should go to sleep. As well as this, it will stop reflections appearing in the windows that may spook or scare the sufferer. Keeping the home calm is a huge part of managing the illness.

Remove Rugs

Often those who have dementia are often less steady on their feet and they are much more likely to trip and fall over the corner of a rug. To prevent this, remove all rugs from the home and instead install plush carpets.

Remove Tripping Hazards

Following on from the point above, it is important for us to remove any tripping hazards from the home that may otherwise hurt the patient. Ensure that there are no wires crossing the floor and get rid of clutter, leaving a safe space.

Keep a Phone Book Next to the Phone

One of the things you need to ensure when caring for someone with dementia is that they have a phone book next to the phone so that they can communicate with others. It may also be helpful to add photos and illustrations next to different phone numbers so that the person can easily pick out who they want to call.

Remove or Cover Mirrors

One of the behavioural symptoms of dementia can be paranoia. Sometimes the presence of a mirror can be an issue in the home of a dementia sufferer as they may think someone else is in the house with them and become distressed. If this is the case, consider turning mirrors around or removing them and replacing them with bright coloured artwork to stimulate the eyes.

Use Calming Colours

When decorating the room, it is important for you to choose calming colours that will relax the patient. It is a good idea to choose pastel tones that are easy on the eyes and avoid clashing colours.

Pin a To Do List on the Fridge

For someone with dementia, it is a good idea to pin a to do list to the fridge to allow them to keep to a daily routine. This could be something as simple as:

Brush teeth
Have breakfast
Feed the cats
Have a shower

Having a simple list of reminders will help the dementia sufferer be more independent and look after themselves.

Label Items With Colourful Stickers and Photos

If your family member has trouble finding items such as a mug, plate, bowl or book, it is a good idea to label things in the cupboard with colourful tags and photos.

Again, this is not an exhaustive list. Please look at national and local dementia support services for more aid specific to your needs.

Many businesses are wholly focused on communicating with customers and shipping products out of the door. But without excellent logistics management, the entire commercial machine can grind to a halt, leading to downtime, issues with suppliers and angry employees. Effective logistics isn’t just something that’s “nice to have” – it’s essential. When the logistics of your business fail, so too does your company. You must manage them effectively. But how?

While logistics is partly about timing, it’s mainly about finding partners you can trust. You need people who can deliver without fail and have the facilities you need to fulfil orders. There’s no point choosing courier service, for instance, if you need to move large pieces of hardware from A to B.

Logistics management is the cornerstone of any capable company, regardless of size. It’s what keeps everything in your organisation flowing, helping to meet consumer demand as rapidly as possible. Your firm can be tremendously profitable and productive, but only if the logistics work. If they don’t, it could spell the end of your brand and your business as a whole.

Here is how a lack of logistics management could be your undoing.

Poor Logistics Management Means Higher Costs

The costs of poor logistics management are considerable. The first problem that you may encounter is an inability to respond to changes in consumer demand.

Let’s say that the seasonal demand for a particular product is much higher than you expected and you suddenly need to ship in a load of goods. You need logistics suppliers who are flexible enough to make the changes and provide the extra transportation space you need. Great partners allow you to take advantage of sudden spikes in demand. Poor quality logistics providers make it much harder to respond to changes in the market profitably.

Poor logistics can also lead to much higher shipping costs. Rush orders, for instance, can attract a premium, forcing you to pay more if you want to make changes to your arrangements at short notice.

Finally, there are the increased labour costs. Unless your logistics is flexible, you can wind up with too much or too little labour. A delivery might arrive at your depot, but if you haven’t got the people you need to unload and distribute it, you’re stuck.

Poor Logistics and Poor Decision-Making

Logistics is about more than just moving goods around: it’s also a vital tool that allows you to plan for the future. Flexible logistics enables everyone in your organisation to access data on logistics services and make predictions based on them. The more data you have, the better off your company will be. Each stakeholder can assess your current situation and then adapt your current logistics set up to provide a solution.

The problem, of course, is that if you don’t have the right data, your employees can’t make good decisions. And if they can’t do that, then they can end up wasting both time and money – both of which have a knock-on effect on the overall health of your enterprise.

Companies like Freo Group provide end-to-end services that help to make logistics smoother. They take care of things like warehousing, transporting heavy haulage, and storing inventory that gives you more flexibility and control over your operation.

Employ Effective Logistics Management to Avoid Lower Productivity

Labour is expensive. You want to make sure, therefore, that it is productive for the entire time that you employ it. The last thing you want is for workers to be standing around, waiting for a shipment.

Unfortunately, however, this can happen if your logistics management is wide of the mark. Suppose for instance you hire six workers to offload a shipment of good for the eventing, paying them each £10 per hour. Now suppose that the consignment arrives an hour late after your workers start work – you’ve wasted nearly £60 right there.

Logistics can have an enormous impact on productivity, especially among workers whose job it is to stock and manage the warehouse. Ensuring that each shipment arrives precisely when it is supposed to, and leaves soon afterwards is vital. If there is any delay in bringing workers and loads together, then it could result in substantial financial losses for your firm over time.

Problems With Inventory Tracking

As a business, you need to know what products you have in stock so that you can make sensible orders. Poor logistics management, however, can cause errors to creep in, causing you to make bad choices when ordering goods and miss out on sales. Unsold inventory takes up space in your storage units and gets in the way of stocking the products that you need, all leading to productivity issues.

The solution is better inventory and logistics management, but achieving that is difficult. Inventory tracking is a tricky business. You need to know precisely which goods are coming into your inventory, and which are leaving, at any given time. If you don’t, then you’ll be forever doing “stocktakes” and wasting your time in the process.

Achieving a slick logistics operation is never easy, even with great partners, but it is possible with the right approach and training. Ideally, you want goods to arrive at the moment labour becomes available to process it. You then need mechanisms to dispatch goods as soon as your customers order them (if that is an integral part of your business). The more quickly you can respond to changes in consumer demand, the better your company will be perceived online.

Logistics Management: In Conclusion

Logistics today is about more than “just-in-time” innovations, although that is a big part of it. It’s also about providing a rapid service, especially internet-savvy consumers who’ve become accustomed to speedy delivery times.

Dementia Friendly Homes: Top Tips