Not cooking-forgetting to turn off stove

gabby_0789

hello, for safety reasons, my mom is no longer cooking because she has forgotten to turn off the stove many times. Are there any adaptive tools we can purchase to help get her back to cooking? Like an alarm to tell us that the stove is on (probably doesn't exist). She has a gas stove. We just don’t want her to feel like she can’t cook for herself anymore. She’s scared to do so. Any ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

M1

welcome to the forum. She's probably right to be scared, and i doubt if there's anything you can do to reverse this-and im not sure you shoud try. This is probably your red flag moment that she shouldn't be living alone any longer, if she still is. Even using the microwave becomes problematic. It's possible to survive on cold foods but not very appetizing.

dancsfo

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/66945/not-cooking-forgetting-to-turn-off-stove

I agree with @M1 I'm afraid there's no way to reverse this.

There's another post on this topic and you can buy some tools to help, but I'm afraid that with any further decline, they won't help anymore, so she will need to accept the fact that she can't cook on her own anymore. Can someone cook with your mom, or does she live on her own?

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/65639/experience-with-stove-shutoff-forgetting-about-a-stove

harshedbuzz

@gabby_0789

The short answer is no.

There is no technology that can replace human supervision in dementia-care. No technology, no gizmo, no gadget, no app that will keep your LO safely cooking.

Cooking is a fairly complex task that requires both memory and executive function. She not only needs to remember to turn off the burner (most newer gas range ovens will shut off after 12 hours unless programmed for "Sabeth Mode"), but she also needs to remember that leftovers have to be transferred to a pan before heating rather than in the plastic container. Some folks think it's OK to let a PWD have access to the microwave which can be just as dangerous if a PWD sets the timer for minutes instead of seconds or heats something on a piece of aluminum foil.

HB