| Bob West 2004-12-15, 7:03 pm |
| If you dont make some changes, like a two way lock for that door your
dad will die of heart failure before your mother dies from alz related
problems. I have been living thru that with my alz mother for the
past two years. I have double cylinder dead bolts on all exterior
doors. On the front door, I also have an "institutional type" door
knob that requires a key to get in or out, just like my dead bolts,
but it also locks automatically every time the door is closed. It has
a separate key. The neighbor has a copy of that key. When we have
occasionally left my mother alone locked in the house for more than an
hour or so, we have left the dead bolt on that door unlocked and only
that door knob locked. We have arranged with the neighbor on several
occasions to come over, let herself in and check up on my mother. It
has worked very well. I would also recommend keyed locks on interior
doors so you dont have to watch the alz person all the time (ie
watching them in the kitchen, etc.). If necessary, buy some prehinged
preframed doors for $34.95 at the hardware store, build a simple
unfinished wall to block off the kitchen, and keep the alz person
locked out. Its a little like a prison but so is the dementia ward at
the nursing home. My mothers second husband died of heart failure two
years ago because of his exhaustion from trying to watch and supervise
my mother 24 hours a day with no breaks. Your father will too if he
doesnt try to make things easier for himself. You run a slight risk
re fire safety and accusations of neglect/abuse, but what else can you
do? My mother will check in to the nursing home within the next few
days.
"Doug Lowe" <Doug-anti@spam-LoweWriter.com> wrote in message news:<epTqd.418076$wV.385930@attbi_s54>...
> My mom's dementia has gotten pretty bad and we just got the Alzheimer's
> diagnosis last week. My dad has been struggling to care for her and cover
> for her for some time now, but its time for some in-home help. So we're just
> starting to look into all the options & we have a steep uphill climb ahead.
>
> One immediate concern is that mom has recently taken to wandering out the
> front door. Dad does his best, but once in awhile he'll be off in the other
> room doing something, and she wanders out. We tried installing an alarm on
> the door, but he can't hear it from other rooms in the house. (It's loud,
> but a bit high pitched & his hearing isn't real good.)
>
> We suggested some type of latch that she couldn't open, but he's opposed to
> that for fear that she won't be able to get out if there's a fire. He has a
> point, but to be honest, I'm not sure that if there were a fire, it would
> occur to her to get out, and the odds of her getting hurt tomorrow wandering
> out of the house are far higher than the odds of a fire.
>
> Any ideas for creative ways to deal with this so that dad can keep tabs on
> her without feeling like the house is becoming a prison?
>
> --Doug
|