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Then it started. The wife fell down and broke her hip, had to be hospitalized, and then moved to a rehab facility. Linda for a variety of reasons including her 8 year old daughter, could not take care of her father. So, she accepted the only alternative that could work, she found a respite care facility for her dad. Then it happened.
"The first night he was there (in the care facility), they called me in the middle of the night and said they can't handle him," she says. "My daughter and I had to go get him." Read that, Linda and her 8 year old daughter. The father was next placed in another facility and then another facility. The first night he was in the new facility (now the second if you are counting), her father became agitated, the facility called the police and he was hospitalized. After 40 days, he was moved to a nursing home (number three) 56 miles away. Poof moved without any chance to identify an alternative. He was quickly medicated, and according to Linda, disappeared. Finally, Linda says, he was moved to a suitable facility and they took good care of him. Linda wondered, why didn't anyone know what to do with him? She isn't the first, she won't be the last. Recently, Carole Larkin wrote three articles on this issue. Types of Dementia Care Communities, the Semantics of Confusion , Before Looking at Communities for a Person with Dementia Consider This , and ThirdAge’s Advice for Choosing a Memory Care Assisted Living or a Memory Care Residential Care Home , Good advice and a lot to digest. As I sit here I am thinking. I am in pretty good shape, and if the time comes , I already know what I am going to do for Dotty. But. But. What if all of a sudden I am gone? What if somethings happens to me and I can't take action? What is going to happen to Dotty? Right now, I cannot answer this question. I'm worried. Here is the article that was the catalyst of this article -- Alzheimer's stories humanize the stats . More Insight and Advice for Caregivers
Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room |
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By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room