Now that Christmas and New Years is over, questions arose about what to do for loved ones with cognitive impairment issues and/or memory loss. Many questions I received were about wandering issues.
For example:
Q1: Neighbors say my loved one is walking into their house or garage confused. How do I keep them safe?
Q2: My Mom’s safe return bracelet isn’t legible and it’s NEW!
Q3: Can humans be chipped?
Answers:
Q1: Find out what time of day your loved one is exhibiting this behavior, and if it is on certain days or random. Ask a family member or friend to come by and check on them at that given time. You may need to hire a home care company to stay with your person a few days a week, providing activities to keep them active, meals and housekeeping. This can be a dangerous situation and if the person should not be living at home alone, this will have to be addressed, before someone gets hurt.
Q2: It may sound a bit silly, but PetSmart has a machine where you can make tags that are very legible. If you do this, do not put the persons’ home number on the tag. Put a family member or friends phone number on the tag, that way the Police & Sheriff’s department can call a person to retrieve them.
Q3: I heard recently that a company in New York is chipping their employees. As of yet it is not offered for the general public.
More questions:
Q1: I labeled my mom’s cabinets so she would know where her dishes are and she tore the labels off. What can I do?
Q2: How do I keep my dad out of rooms I don’t want him disturbing in my home?
Q3: I cannot keep my aunt from using the stove while I am work and she keeps catching pans on fire. What can I do?
Answers:
Q1: Cut out pictures that may be large and pretty, of plates, utensils, glasses, and such and place them high on the cabinet out of reach. You can also place them inside the cabinet, where it may not as intrusive to your mom.
Q2: You can use double lock deadbolts as long as the person doesn’t live alone or cause a fire hazard. You can also go to a store that has wall paper and buy some that looks like a bookcase and place it on the outside of the door. If the person is progressed enough with Alzheimer’s and you are trying to the them age in place, this might work. Also use the child resistant handles on doors.
Q3: I suggest unplugging the stove while you are at work. It you have a microwave, remove metal pans so she doesn’t put them in the microwave.
I know there are a lot more questions folks have so please send them my way I will try to help!
