By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

Perham resident Rob Hendrickson has been an occupational therapist for 25 years and in that time, he has visited with and helped countless families with their therapy needs, many of which also struggled with health issues related to dementia.

It was these experiences and stories that inspired him three years ago to begin Lakes Home Solutions, a consulting business aimed at helping those patients struggling with dementia in the home, as well as their caretakers.

“I provide home consultations for people with dementia and their caregivers,” said Hendrickson. “I started the program in response to what I perceived as a need in the community to support people with dementia and their struggling care partners in their home.

“I’ve been in healthcare now for over 25 years as an occupational therapist and had noticed that were having more and more people being diagnosed in the community and it was my experience that they just weren’t being provided a lot of resources and a lot of support when they were being sent home following their diagnosis,” he continued. “I wanted to be able to support them and create some home programming so that they’re able to thrive in their homes.”

In addition to being an occupational therapist, Hendrickson is also a Certified Dementia Practitioner and experience working with a variety of forms of dementia including Alzheimer’s Disease, Lewy Body Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia, Vascular Dementia, Primary Progressive Aphasia, Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease and Posterior Cortical Atrophy.

Hendrickson said that he often gets asked about the differences in dementia-related diseases. He said that dementia is the “overarching umbrella,” which groups the cognitive disorders whereas Alzheimers, Lewy Body Dementia and all the rest are more specific and individual diseases in the dementia category.

“A lot of research is going on our there, lots of resources like in the Alzheimers Association and things like that,” said Hendrickson. “Unfortunately, to date, there is no cure for it. They’re making advances with some of the medications to slow the progression of the disease and to address some of the symptoms associated with the disease, but we don’t have any cure as of right now. It’s a real epidemic in our medical society because more and more people are being diagnosed with it but we just don’t have a treatment for it right now.”

Hendrickson’s main services are individualized for each family and situation and makes sure to address both patient and caregiver in the home. His consulting usually takes two to three visits where he identifies cognitive abilities, challenges and needs and is able to provide support in the form of individualized plans, resources, and referrals for each unique family.

“Number one is really to support the person with dementia,” he said. “To help identify their remaining cognitive abilities, to help them kind of function to the best of their ability at home, identify what remaining strengths they have, what they are continuing to do well, and to really support those abilities so they can continue to thrive.

“The second part is really to support the care partners,” he continued. “To identify concerns that they have with some of the common behaviors and such that are associated with dementia, and really what we do is we problem-solve together and come up with action plans to really address the most problematic behaviors so that things go more smooth at home.”

Lakes Home Solutions accepts referrals from local clinics and has a roughly 45 mile radius around Perham. Hendrickson also accepts direct communication via website, email, and phone for consulting purposes. He has been able to work with community wellness groups such as Elevate OTC and has received a lot of support from the local community. 

“I think they’ve been real receptive to having support for patients with dementia in the home,” said Hendrickson. “It’s been fun working with those groups.

“My favorite part is being able to help the families problem-solve challenging situations so that things go more smooth at home,” he continued. “Oftentimes when we’re dealing with dementia, it’s a lot of unforeseen challenges that create a lot of stress for families, and so, if I can bring some peace through problem solving and providing them resources to help them manage some of these challenging situations, I feel like I have job satisfaction.”

The Alzheimer’s Association notes that one in nine people over the age of 65 have symptoms of the disease and the total number of Americans with Alzheimers is projected to double by 2060, with an estimated 14 million people to be affected.

“The incidents of dementia is quite significant, it’s pretty staggering,” he said. “I have the chance to work with people from all walks of life and I think they would almost all tell you that as care partners, this is the hardest job they’ve ever had. There is no training, there is not book given to you about how to take care of someone with dementia, but there’s also no break.

“For many of these people, they are the only one at home taking care of their spouse or a family member and the burnout rate is extremely high for situations like this,” he continued. “One of my recommendations when I’m consulting with families is that this is not a situation where I encourage care partners to continue on their own. It’s not a good idea to handle this journey on your own, just because of how difficult it can be on care partners.”

Hendrickson explained that a caretaker’s responsibilities are so great that they will oftentimes neglect their own physical, emotional and healthcare needs. He said that there is research that shows that in many instances, a caregiver will attempt to provide care for a loved one with dementia and will have died before the patient due to the stress and fatigue of the job.

“It’s pretty sad, it depicts just how stressful it can be on your physical and mental health,” he said. “My job is to come in and identify what unique needs each family has, oftentimes I’ll connect them with resources that they need, so if they need a Personal Care Assistant (PCA), companion resources, elder care attorney, I’ll connect them with those people. Whatever their needs are, it’s really to support them in that. Generally, I give them the tools and the education so they function better at home. Most of the families that I work with, usually two or three visits usually meets their needs and equips them with the resources to manager better on their own.”

Hendrickson can be contacted via his website, www.lakeshomesolutions.com, through email, rob@lakeshomesolutions.com, or by calling him at (218) 298-0869. His consulting services are reimbursed by Medicare and he is able to meet each family right in the comfort of their own home.