Suggestions for falling

OhState1

My father is in assisted living. Since moving there, he was diagnosed with cancer (metastatized to his spine) and beyond treatment. He is on hospice cate now.  Unfortunately he also has dementia. He’s gotten very weak as of late, to the point where he falls once or twice a day. He just forgets that he can’t get up on his own, so he does.  He’s got a chair and bed alarm that alerts the nursing station when he gets up, but apparently he is still pretty fast.  He has a walker and a wheelchair, and he will zip around the AL facility using his feet to move the chair.  They moved his room to be closer to the nursing station. They’ve adjusted his meds several times to help with the delusions.  

I am wondering if there is something else we can do to keep him from falling much.  I’m guessing some of you have dealt with this and may have some ideas.  Unfortunately none of us can get in to see him. Not since October because the covid rates are high where he lives.  It’s just so unsettling when it feels like you can’t help. But I get a call every day telling me he fell but didn’t hurt himself. At least they DQ’d his Coumadin back in November.  

ladyzetta

If your AL facility has a MC section it may be time to move your Dad there. My DH was in MC and they have more caregivers to help the ones who need the extra care. Where my DH was the AL just helped with the housekeeping the meals and the medicines. My DH needed a lot more help then that so he went directly to MC.  I am surprised this was not suggested to you by AL. Hopefully the falls don't break some bones.

Marta

Unless you have someone there 24/7, you can’t keep your loved one from falling.

RobOT

OhState1, there is a method for keeping a person in a wheelchair without a strap or tie-down type restraint.  It depends on your state laws if this is usable, but it is very safe and effective.  A drop seat wheelchair has a seat that is lower in the back than in the front, (like the fun house chair you can't get out of easily) and is very difficult for a weak or confused person to get out of without help.  They can still wheel around using their feet, and aren't tied down.  Another version of this is a wedge pillow on the seat of the wheelchair.  Both of these methods need to be fitted by a physical or occupational therapist as they can  cause pressure points at the back of the thighs and knees if done wrong.  The other method is a wheelchair that tilts back on it's platform, but those are expensive and he can't move himself around with it.  Most skilled nursing homes have at least one or two of these items around, and nursing doesn't always think of them just because it's a therapy thing.  Hope this might help.

Abuela

A Broda Chair is a recliner on wheels.  They put mom in one of these after she came back from a hospital stay from a fall.  Though mom still had the determination and strength to push her way out of it... even when it was reclined.  But it gave them time to get her to wait for them to help her to stand up.  

Mom's falls were from the dementia.... the brain signals to move her limbs would glitch out.  I was with her often when it would happen.  she would stop dead in the middle of the hall or the store. Her only vocabulary was that her leg hurt.  She had no pain, but she could not make her leg move for about a min.  Then we would walk another half hour without incident.  No pain.  So the falls were happening to her when that would take place.  There was really nothing we could do because she could no longer be trained to use a walker.