Lorraine Poulos

15 Dementia Reducing restlessness 1 2 3 4 Know your client: • Understand their personal and work histories • Get to know their habits and past routines Ensure safety in the home: • Minimise clutter without causing anxiety • Use memory prompts such as day/date clock, picture labels for cupboards, doors • Ensure safe garden by positioning plants as distractors and/or barriers Support Wellbeing: • Share with your co-workers what works to reduce restlessness • Identify triggers to behaviours like hunger, leg pain, needing to tidy up or expecting visitors • Reminiscence with stories and memories • Share tasks with them • Ensure exercise is part of the daily routine (garden activities, hanging out clothes, walks to shops or through neighbourhood, or just to the letterbox if mobility is limited) • Ensure exposure to fresh air daily to support healthy sleep • Use whiteboard as visual cue for reminders and to reduce anxiety about memory loss (e.g. son visits on Tuesdays at 6pm after work, Day Centre bus comes at 9am on Thursdays) Observe: • Changes in mood or behaviours • Changes in ability to undertake activities of daily living • Routines that work well for the client Document in the Client Journal: • Document changes or concerns 5 Guide for consumers, carers and workers