Memory care question

otfgirl750

Has anyone ever had your MC facility ask you to spend the night with your LO? Mom fell. She went to hospital and is ok but sore. They gave her some meds but MC wants someone with her in case she tries to get up overnight. Something doesn’t seem right

ronda b

They must not have the staff to keep a close eye on her. But no never .

towhee

MC no, but age in place AL, absolutely. Any time there was an increased fall risk they would ask for some change to alleviate it. If it was something acute, like new meds after a fall, they wanted supervision. Pain meds can be sedating and falls can make a person stiff and affect their balance. That facility preferred private care, but would accept family. Most facilities do not have bed alarms, and even if they do they do not have the staff to answer them. Look at how many direct care staff your facility has per resident at night. In my opinion this facility is being honest and looking out for the best interests of their resident. Look a little further down on this page and check out a post titled "Falling".

SDianeL

Falls are common with late stage PWDs. And even with 24/7 care falls happen. Once you start providing night care it will continue. Are you prepared to do that? Most families can’t do that. You may have to hire outside help.

towhee

Facilities differ in the way they treat falls. Some do not like to admit that they ever need anything more than their usual care, even if family sees that care as inadequate. At the other end, some facilities have a whole set of protocols they put into place when there is a fall, which may include replacing regular beds with hospital beds, special mattresses, floor mats, physical therapy visits, putting people in wheelchairs instead of letting them use their walker, and, yes, requiring extra supervision in acute situations. Often these are facilities that "cherry pick" residents. They want the residents with easy behavior and few physical needs and they need a good reputation to get multiple applicants to choose from. Falls go on a facilities record and too many falls looks bad. Or, they could have been sued in the past. If they have a resident that is falling more than they are prepared to accept (and this differs by facility) they can give you a 30-day notice that they do not feel they can meet your needs and you will have to find somewhere else.

A resident that has been given pain pills with codeine or tramadol or a muscle relaxant is definitely at a greater fall risk. Using such medications for more than a couple of days for a minor fall is not usual. Extra care here should last no more than 2 or 3 days.

otfgirl750

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/256703#Comment_256703

we are not. She is in MC and I guess I didn’t know night care at the MC would be an issue or that they might as her to leave if falls continue. I guess we need to get busy determining a plan B if necessary.

harshedbuzz

This doesn't strike me as odd.

It's not unusual for MCFs to ask families to provide private help as a resident ages or as after a hospital visit. This might be family, private aides/sitters or hospice depending on the particulars.

Most MCFs don't have overnight staffing that would support a dedicated sitter; dad's MC had an overnight aide and LPN doing checks every 2 hours as opposed to the hourly checks daytimes and evenings.

HB

Andrew Hoyza

I have spent the night, but no no one every asked me. If it is temporary and you feel ok with it do it. The quality time is worth it

otfgirl750

thank you all - always so helpful and supportive! It was temporary and through an abundance of caution. We are looking into hospice as well as she is progressing in the disease.

psg712

It's interesting to me how different facilities have different rules or requests. My mom's MC (and the AL connected with it, where she lived first) forbids family from staying overnight. And yet ... they don't really have posted visiting hours, I have stayed quite late on a few occasions when mom needed extra help, and no one ever challenged me about it.

sandwichone123

They don't want people just moving in. Sometimes when a resident needs extra help they will require that the family hire an aide or sitter to be with them. In some cases the facility might allow a family member to substitute for the paid help, but if that didn't work out well they would have the posted policy to fall back on.

daughterheather

Hi, my mom moved to memory care in March, after 2 months in rehab after a short hospital stay. I'm surprised they would ask you to stay as they are supposed to provide 24/7 care. It sounds like maybe your mom needs to be at a rehab facility instead? Good luck.

Anonymousjpl123

What timing: my mom’s facility just told me I need to get her a 12 hour aide. In her case it’s the constant falling and that she can’t be redirected. I will do it on the weekends (starting next weekend not this coming one thank god). Thankful it’s not overnight but during the day when she wanders (she also does at night but it’s less busy so they can handle it).

I get why, but it is just crazy.

terei

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/257009#Comment_257009

Interesting. I stayed in my mom’s room many times when she was in memory care. At the end of her life I think I was there about 3 full weeks.