How to Alz-proof home?

M5M

I read that I should make changes to our home… locks on cabinets, take up small rugs, hide the poisonous items… I’m looking for suggestions to start implementing, things to consider…but, goodness, will I have to turn the house into a hospital setting? Obviously DH functions fairly well now, he is early mid stage, but definitely losing capabilities….

M1

M5M, this is a hard thing and likely something that will require ongoing attention, because I can guarantee you that just like with a toddler, you cannot possibly think of all the things that may become a problem.   Over the years my partner put furniture polish in the dish soap dispenser, put regular gas in the diesel tractor, and used various non-cleaning liquids as glass cleaners on the windows and doors--things I would never in a million years have envisioned until they happened.  I turned off the phone ringers, hid the mail, locked up all medicines, etc., but never locked up my wallet--until one day I went downstairs to exercise, and returned after an hour to find her with all my credit cards, ID's, drivers license etc. strewn all over the bedroom and she was asking who they belonged to.  At some point, there is nothing short of 24-7 supervision that will suffice.  If you're not there yet, you just probably kind of have to wing it with your best judgement at the time.  Certainly, guns and cars and power tools, knives, toxins, medications are a reasonable place to start.  But it will almost certainly remain a work in progress, and how much you have to modify may depend a lot on the inquisitiveness and personality of your LO with dementia.

Ed1937

M1 gave you an excellent reply. Just when you think everything has been taken care of, OOPS! You mentioned taking up area rugs. This becomes an easy tripping hazard. We had an area rug under the dining room table that became problematic. I got some double stick carpet tape to put on the edges, and that worked very well, instead of getting rid of it. If you do that, you have to make sure you have the tape right to the edge of the rug, otherwise it can still be a tripping hazard. You're doing the right thing when you try to stay ahead of the game.

Vitruvius

Like M1 I have a bunch of examples of unexpected things that a PWD can do with household items. In addition to the obviously dangerous items I would advise securing/hiding anything of sentimental value. My DW tried show our dog some family photos which he promptly shredded. 

Then there are items that are not dangerous but can make a big mess if used improperly.  Hiding scissors is usually cited as they are a potential weapon. But my DW was never aggressive like that. She however found a household scissors and used it to try to cut her own hair. After a trip to a hair salon to fix that, I hid all the scissors, or so I thought. She found a tiny nail scissor and tried to cut her hair with that, fortunately it didn't do much damage.

Having a readily available "clean-up kit" is advisable as well, everything you'll need to quickly jump right on any mess that does happen. I let DW do laundry as long as she could although towards the end I monitored it closely. I was able to stop her when she put the dirty clothes in the dryer and was about to pour the laundry detergent in. But if I hadn't I knew I had my clean-up kit handy.

I think one of the issues is PWD trying to do things they always did but can't remember how so they improvise.  Unfortunately there is little you can do but keep a close eye on them. 

M5M

Thanks for the specific explanations...I'm trying to "read ahead" in this journey and be prepared.  Cabinets need reorganizing anyway, so I want to consider possible dangers as I work on that project now.

Midwest Gal

Just the one (of many) thing that I did was to plug in small night lights throughout the house.  My DH often would get up at night to either find the bathroom or relocate to the living room recliner.  I figured that it might make it safer for him to have some light.  I have been eyeing our open basement staircase wondering if I need to put the child proof gate back across it.  You just often never know until you find out the hard way.  Good Luck

Ed1937

Midwest Gal wrote:

 I have been eyeing our open basement staircase wondering if I need to put the child proof gate back across it.  

My MIL lived with us for a few years before she passed. Once I heard her roaming the house in the middle of the night. I got up to find her at the top of the open stairway to the basement, rocking back and forth, while grabbing onto the doorway. The next morning I put a new door on there, with a lock. Do you think a child proof gate would suffice?

Iris L.

An elder might attempt to climb over a toddler gate and fall.

Iris

Ed1937

Iris L. wrote:

An elder might attempt to climb over a toddler gate and fall.

That's a good point. When MIL lived with us, she wandered, so we kept the doors locked. One day one of our daughters came to visit, and when she pulled into the driveway she saw her throw her purse out of the window. Then attempted to climb out herself. Then I had to make it so she couldn't open the window.

HollyBerry

Under the guise of spring cleaning,  I cleaned out every closet in the house recently.  I found a stash of expired meds - separate from a huge basket of vitamins- that had intentionally been tucked away where I wouldn't easily find them. They went to med drop that afternoon.  I didn't say a word and I'm pretty sure she's forgotten they were there. But I was very glad I started the process of house-proofing. I'm hoping to get to the garage this summer when I can work fairly uninterrupted and shuttle things straight to the trash.