Delusions that are scary

Hello all,

This is my first post and I look forward to learning from you all! My father lives in a memory care community and has advanced small vessel disease diagnosed via MRI with advanced dementia. We moved him in over the summer on level 1 care, he is now at level 2 and has moved once within the facility. He no longer can effectively tell time and thus, he does not sleep well - we suspect he is up a lot at night given the phone calls that I get at off hours and reports from staff. We recently changed his sleep aids to try to improve his quality of sleep because I am noticing a significant increase in paranoia, delusions and confusion. I suspect that his lack of sleep is contributing to this but also understand it may be the progression of the disease. My reason for this post is two-fold. What do you do when your loved one calls in the middle of a paranoid delusion? For example, the most recent was dad called and said there are 8 strangers in his room and they are talking about selling his home out from under him. There was genuine fear and anxiety around this event. How do I talk him down and how to I assure him that he is ok when I am not there and I am reacting to what he is telling me in that moment? Second, is there a book or resource that teaches the care providers how to effectively manage paranoia/delusions to move their loved one out of a place of fear to a place of safety? Specifically, if I am not there in his space when this happens. The staff at the facility say he does not say these things to them (he is very complacent and pleasant and does not want to upset anyone - part of the paranoia is we cannot tell anyone because they will come after him and try to harm him or his family- ) I find this to be overwhelming and so stressful and it makes me very sad and concerned that he is fearful in his living environment.

Thank you for your input and suggestions!