There is nothing that I know that is anything special, it may be the same way people care for them in Western societies. Alzheimer's is a very unfortunate, usually old age disease and it can be quite frightening to watch someone losing their mind. It is not easy, you need a lot of compassion for them and you need a lot of equanimity, especially if their mind goes negative and you might have been their favourite son and they start yelling at you, like you are an enemy. But their mind is shifted, there needs to be a lot of compassion for their changes. It is very important to keep in mind that an old aged person who suffers from Alzheimer's, or other similar senilities, they are not in control. Their brain is breaking down and they are not who they used to be, but that doesn't stop - if say they are your mother, your father, your grandparent - it doesn't stop you wanting to try to help to support them, even though they may not know who you are. The last time I saw my grandmother she was blind, she had diabetes and it was very much near the end. She was blind and her legs had been amputated, but I didn't know it, my mother didn't tell me when I went to see her. Actually her mind had gone as well and I didn't know that either. So I went to see my grandmother, who used to be a very chirpy woman all the time and sure enough she was very chirpy lying in bed in the nursing home, and she started calling me by one of her brother's names. I said, "Oh, it is lovely to see you and bla, bla, bla..." but she didn't know who I was and I was very young at that time. I wasn't a meditator, so it kind of freaked me out a little but she was still there, she was still loving, and that was nice. But she had no idea who I was.
My mother lost her mind in the last few years of her life. It was very slow, very gradual, and the last time I saw her, while she was active, she didn't speak at all. I couldn't make her laugh, it was always easy for me to make her laugh, but I couldn't even make her laugh at the end, her face was just totally expressionless. She could walk, she could eat if people helped her to know that she had food there, sometimes she put tissue paper in her mouth to eat instead of a banana or something. This was very unpleasant to watch.
So with Alzheimer's and other senility problems it is very unpleasant but it is always important to remember who they used to be and to care for them as if they are the baby now. My father who kept his mind but lost his physical abilities ended up wearing nappies, diapers, because he was old and couldn't control when he needed to go to the bathroom. He once said to me, "I am the baby now and you are the parent." So it is something interesting to keep in mind if you do have to feel with the parent or grandparent if they have Alzheimer's or senility, to keep loving them even if they don't know you, to keep loving them even if they start hating you, threatening you and all sorts of things. My brother-in-law's mother went that route also and she used to accuse him of stealing her purse, every time he came to see her. Her purse was always in the top drawer but she would accuse him of stealing it every time he came and that was very difficult for him. He was not a meditator and didn't handle it very well. So as to any differences in handling, no, I don't know of any difference in handling it from a Buddhist perspective, other than having a lot of compassion.