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Home > Archive > Alzheimers support > October 2005 > Katrina
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| Karen 2005-09-24, 12:35 pm |
| Has anyone else been wondering how many New Orleans Alzheimer's people have
been displaced by all of the events with Katrina? My MIL is situated in a
better place than my house is for potential flooding so I can understand why
people may have thought the evac plan of AL facilities may have been able to
take better care of their LO, especially if they had kids to corral, too.
But given the chaos, how are they ever going to get back together when their
LO may not even remember their own name.
The disaster planning was one of the first things I asked about when looking
for a local facility to place my MIL in. The facility she is in is very
soundly built and on high solid ground. They have a evacuation contingency
plan, but their first level is shelter in place. The last time we had a
disaster in our area, they lost two dementia residents that became
disoriented when having to evacuate and ran off into flood waters.
Karen
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| Mary_Gordon@tvo.org 2005-09-24, 12:35 pm |
| Even more frightening than the fate of those in institutions impacted
by Katrina is the fate of those still living in their own homes. At
least if a person is in an institution, there is a chance someone is
looking out for them - the safety in numbers idea.
Everyone can think of examples in their own neighbourhoods of the
elderly who clearly have some form of dementia but are still home alone
- often undiagnosed (whether because their doctor is a boob, they have
no family supports, or their family is in denial). The ones who live
alone are infinitely more worrying because even if they are able to
manage when everything is totally normal, in an emergency and under
stress, they absolutely will have no clue what to do - or worse, will
do something that makes no sense to anyone with an intact brain - I can
think of some doozy things my poor MIL did when confounded by even the
most minor of domestic challenges. I have no idea what she might have
done if faced with a genuine emergency that required some clear
thinking. Someone with AD would not be able to anticipate, plan or
prepare for any aspect of a hurricane, and I know they wouldn't be able
to come up with a rational plan once the worst of the storm was over.
Mary
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| Karen 2005-09-24, 12:35 pm |
| I was remembering what my husband and I went through to get my MIL on a
flight from her town to ours and the coordination it took to go to the
bathroom with him watching out for her. I can't picture that scenario when
transplanted to a shelter and the mass of people reported there If Grampa
gets away from you, how would you ever find him? I remember hearing a
report of one family that had lost their grandma and they thought they had
found her until the workers realized that the grandma they had found didn't
belong with the family looking and now they had 2 problems on their hands.
I just can not imagine the chaos those poor people must be going through.
Karen
<Mary_Gordon@tvo.org> wrote in message
news:1125794332.654138.122430@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Even more frightening than the fate of those in institutions impacted
> by Katrina is the fate of those still living in their own homes. At
> least if a person is in an institution, there is a chance someone is
> looking out for them - the safety in numbers idea.
----snip---
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| Evelyn Ruut 2005-09-24, 12:35 pm |
|
<Mary_Gordon@tvo.org> wrote in message
news:1125794332.654138.122430@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Even more frightening than the fate of those in institutions impacted
> by Katrina is the fate of those still living in their own homes. At
> least if a person is in an institution, there is a chance someone is
> looking out for them - the safety in numbers idea.
>
> Everyone can think of examples in their own neighbourhoods of the
> elderly who clearly have some form of dementia but are still home alone
> - often undiagnosed (whether because their doctor is a boob, they have
> no family supports, or their family is in denial). The ones who live
> alone are infinitely more worrying because even if they are able to
> manage when everything is totally normal, in an emergency and under
> stress, they absolutely will have no clue what to do - or worse, will
> do something that makes no sense to anyone with an intact brain - I can
> think of some doozy things my poor MIL did when confounded by even the
> most minor of domestic challenges. I have no idea what she might have
> done if faced with a genuine emergency that required some clear
> thinking. Someone with AD would not be able to anticipate, plan or
> prepare for any aspect of a hurricane, and I know they wouldn't be able
> to come up with a rational plan once the worst of the storm was over.
>
> Mary
I just feel so sorry for all those poor people who have lost their homes.
It is heartbreaking. A person with Alzheimers even more so.... they are
like lost kids in some ways.
--
Best Regards,
Evelyn
(to reply to me personally, remove 'sox')
>
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| Jo Ann Malina 2005-09-24, 12:35 pm |
| Karen <kk5151@hotmail.com> is alleged to have said:
> Has anyone else been wondering how many New Orleans Alzheimer's people have
> been displaced by all of the events with Katrina? My MIL is situated in a
> better place than my house is for potential flooding so I can understand why
> people may have thought the evac plan of AL facilities may have been able to
> take better care of their LO, especially if they had kids to corral, too.
> But given the chaos, how are they ever going to get back together when their
> LO may not even remember their own name.
>
> The disaster planning was one of the first things I asked about when looking
> for a local facility to place my MIL in. The facility she is in is very
> soundly built and on high solid ground. They have a evacuation contingency
> plan, but their first level is shelter in place. The last time we had a
> disaster in our area, they lost two dementia residents that became
> disoriented when having to evacuate and ran off into flood waters.
There was a heartrending piece on the television Sunday when the
President of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, lost it. He was telling
about a colleague whose mother was trapped in a nursing home. Every
day she would call her son and ask, is someone coming to get us? And
he would say, yes mama, they're coming. And they didn't, and on
Friday the woman drowned.
They've been telling us here in California that we'll be on our own
for at least 72 hours after a major earthquake and should lay in
supplies. It's become frighteningly obvious this week what "on our
own" really means.
--
Jo Ann Malina, make spamthis best to find my address
Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists of choosing
between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
-- John Kenneth Galbraith, _Ambassador's Journal_
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| ncgen 2005-09-24, 12:36 pm |
| Karen wrote:
> Has anyone else been wondering how many New Orleans Alzheimer's people have
> been displaced by all of the events with Katrina?
Having lived through hurricanes with my in-laws, I have been so worried
about that population. During Fran in '96, I had a 20mo old, was 8
months pregnant and had both my in-laws in their 80s with Alzheimer's
with us. We evacuated to my parent's house. During the middle of the
storm, my father-in-law woke up during the night, had to use the
bathroom, and ended up with BM all over my parent's new carpet in the
guest room and bathroom. Needless to say, I spent half the night
cleaning. The following day, I begged every hotel in town to give me a
room. Finally, one of them had their power back on and let us take a
room. I told them I'd do the laundry, bring linens, whatever...just
give me a room for two nights until we can get home. That night, I
ended up in the emergency room. My parents had my son at their house,
hubby had in-laws at hotel and I was in the ER with each of them
thinking I was with the other.
My in-laws were very affected from all the transition and change in
their environment. During the night, my husband woke up to his dad
urinating on him and when he got up to clean up and get his dad
setttled, his mother woke up screaming about a man in her bed. She
didn't recognize her husband or son. I wasn't there to help him b/c I
was at the hospital strapped to a monitor b/c of pains I'd been having
all evening while trying to get them settled. What a nightmare. When we
tried to go back home, my husband had to take them to their old house
which was in a safe area while I went down a week later and stayed with
friends until I could find temporary housing for us. I ended up in a
condo with my son and my husband staying with his parents. They had
lived in an "apartment" in our house before the storm. Fortunately, my
parents kept my 20 month old for two weeks for me while I went to help
hubby with his parents so he could inspect our house (inhabitable).
I can't imagine the terror of families not knowing what's happening
right now. How confused and disoriented the people separated from their
families and relocated from their facilities and homes must be. I worry
about those still living in their homes if they got out safely or died.
I've been posting on various boards offering to help families track
people who were relocated. Yesterday, I was able to notify a family
that I'd found where their 94yo grandfather's nursing home had
relocated to and spoke with a worker from that home to get his
condition and relay a number where the family could be reached. The
family wanted to go get him but had not been able to locate him and
lived in another state.
What a relief that was to be able to tell the family he was safe, had
not drowned and was in fairly good health. I would like to be able to
go there but have not been able to make arrangements for my children's
care so that I could go. I know there are not nearly enough people
working in shelters experienced in dealing with geriatric issues to
effetively manage or deal with issues which are of special concern to
that population. My heart goes out to them and their families.
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| > Having lived through hurricanes with my in-laws,
What stories you can tell your grand children! ;-) They will gaze with
wonder at their adventurous grandmother. Not ridiculing but in genuine
admiration at how you have managed to cope with such adversity.
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| ncgen 2005-09-24, 12:36 pm |
| Thank you. But we were the only family they had to take care of them.
My FIL had two natural sons, both retired, with the time and money to
help them, but did nothing. Simply put, they needed us. Now I listen
to families and wonder how they do it. Many times I tell them when
they express guilt over placing their LO in a facility that I've been
where they are and I understand their decisions. Most days back
before they got so bad that I left work to take care of them, I didn't
have time to think about it b/c I was too exhausted at night. When I
was home, it was too costly to hire someone to stay with the boys (both
small) and someone to watch them too so going out wasn't an option.
Now I look back and wonder how we survived some days. But spending time
with her now, I wish we had some of those days back. She's 92 now, has
no idea who any of us are except she thinks my husband is her youngest
brother (same name). It's so sad that she wanted grandchildren so
badly and isn't able to enjoy them. I don't think I've ever seen a
happier woman than when she held my 10yo for the first time. At that
point, she was still in early stages.
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| > Thank you. But we were the only family they had to take care of them.
Understood, but you DID bear the burden.
> ...I wish we had some of those days back. She's 92 now, has
> no idea who any of us are
My beloved wife of 52 years is the same. She's been is a Az unit for 5
years now. I fully know your sense of loss and carry the same wish in my
heart. But all we have left is memories so cling to them, for the person
in those memories is no longer with us.
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| ncgen 2005-09-24, 12:36 pm |
| You're right. She's here physically, but there's nothing left of the
person she was before this.
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| wocasdu@peoplepc.com 2005-10-06, 10:27 pm |
| I've been doing Internet searches to help people find family members
lost because of Katrina. By now, most people who can help themselves
have found each other. But *many* people are still missing relatives
who have dementia or are unable to speak because of a stroke. I can't
begin to guess whether the lost patients number in the dozens or the
hundreds. It's been a month, and the families are in agony.
I'm setting up a web page for Katrina's Jane Does and John Does at
http://geocities.com/looper1200/. Feel free to send people to it if
you know families who lost someone in the storm or if you know people
who are caring for an unidentified evacuee.
The frightening thing is, it seems there is NO procedure for handling
this. All the official databases expect you to enter people by name,
date of birth, etc. There's no way for the lost patient to give that
information, and it's almost useless for the family to provide it.
Most of the databases don't even allow you to enter a physical
description. Local newspapers are running feature articles on
unidentified people, but what good is an article in the Nashville paper
when the patient's relatives have evacuated to Texas, Utah, or Cape
Cod? It's a nightmare.
What's really surprising is how many of the hospital and nursing home
patients were apparently evacuated without any sort of ID on their
person. I would think nursing homes would routinely put an ID bracelet
on every Alzheimer's patient, but apparently they don't.
I'm lucky not to have experienced this with a family member. After
watching the Katrina crisis unfold, if I had to evaluate a nursing
home's evacuation plan for a loved one, the first thing I would think
of is ID bracelets, medical records, and policies about keeping
vulnerable patients with people who can speak for them. Many of the
Katrina patients were whisked away with no ID and no medical records,
and I've seen several accounts about family members who were expressly
forbidden to travel with the patient on the rescue vehicle. At the
time, there were lots of good reasons for it to happen that way, but
the result is that a month later these patients are alone and
unfindable.
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