Placement

K327

Update on my father: he is still being held in the hospital with his meds being adjusted. This has seemed to improve his agitation and anger. 

Unfortunately, his ADL needs have increased while in the hospital to a point he will not be able to come home, while we find a memory care or skilled nursing placement for him. It has been difficult to find an opening, especially one that would be willing to him not that he has been marked 'violent' on his chart from the hospital.   

The social worker the hospital has assigned to him has not been helpful at all and seems to not understand what she should be doing in finding a placement either.

How do you decide the type care needed and then what each facility offers. I am stuggling to find any memory care that is not assisted living memory care, which his needs might be just to high for but he is still able to walk (or could before being admitted in the hospital) and is pron to wondering. 

SusanB-dil

The memory care places I have seen have special locks. A few years ago, while visiting grandmother, I accidentally set off that alarm. That was a rather loud 'oops'.

All you can really do is check around. Sorry that worker is not helpful. I have found that a lot of times, we end up just doing on our own. Just keep checking around.   I'm sure someone has better suggestions for you, though.

Ed1937

If there is another social worker who could take the place of the current one, I think you should request the needed change. If that is not possible, there should be a patient advocate in the hospital who you could contact, and explain everything that has been going on. Once the patient advocate gets involved, you could see some welcomed changes in the way things have progressed so far. Best of luck to you.

dayn2nite2

You look for a place that can care for him on his worst days, not his best.

K327

Thank you,

We have been in contact with the hospitals patient advocate from the start because it took 3 days for the social worker to contact us and instead totally ruined the ties we have with one memory care unit in our community by the miss information she passed along to them.

I will ask for a new social worker, but it sounds like the hospital is very short staffed and they may not have more than one.

MP8

I don't know if they are available in your area, but the social worker at my doctor's office recommended a "senior locator" who can help to recommend facilities that are a good match for given conditions, financial situations, etc. Perhaps your father's regular doctor's office can put you in touch with someone who specializes in this?

CaliforniaGirl-1

There are private senior placement advocates who know all the local places and have relationships with them. They get paid by the care facility and not you.

Try calling your local Alzheimer's association and ask them for a list of senior/elder care placement managers that they have seen people work with. They won't recommend one but they should be able to give you a list of 3 or 4 and then you can look them up on yelp and elsewhere and see if you like any of them.