Common sense health care needs for people with memory loss include all the standard preventive care such as prostate/mammogram screenings, flu shots, annual physicals and blood pressure checks–and the following:

Hearing Evaluation

Hearing loss is very common in patients who have impaired memory.  People with memory loss have access to a limited set of facts and so often have a difficult time making sense of the world around them.  Hearing loss makes it even more difficult to understand and retain what is being said.  Hearing loss can significantly aggravate memory loss.   Accordingly, it is important to ensure that hearing is adequate, through a professional audiological exam.  Just as the person who learns they need glasses for the first time is astonished to see the world come into clarity when they place the lenses over their eyes, never before having realized what they were missing, the person who has insufficient hearing may not recognize that the sounds around them could be more clear. (more…)