Mom troublemaking at AL

lilacgirl

I have a Care Plan Meeting coming up next week, and I want to be prepared to respond to some of the issues the staff has reported to me regarding my mom… Just in the past week alone, she has "caused a scene" (Director of Wellness's words) regarding her bedtime medication — it was late getting to her and she walked down to the nurse's station in her pajamas and demanded it, apparently swore at the nurse (shocking coming from my mother, who NEVER used to swear, who taught us that "poop" was a bad word, haha)….

She also refused to let the housekeeping staff change her sheets — she doesn't sleep well and always has to blame it on something; lately she's been blaming it on the way they make her bed. (I can't figure out what on earth she believes they are doing wrong.) She also does not recall that they change her sheets regularly, believes they only have done it once in 2 months (they do it every other week).

What kind of solutions can I provide/recommend in the meeting next week? I don't want her to get kicked out of this place!

H1235

My mom hasn’t done these kinds of things yet, but it wouldn’t shock me if she did, it kind of feels like she is heading in that direction. If this agitation is an ongoing thing, I would ask about anxiety medication or an increase. It’s not just that this is a problem for the facility, I would be concerned if she is upset and angry throughout the day. That can’t be comfortable for her to have all that anger inside. Anxiety medication may help with her sleep also. I’m not sure what else you could do. In my moms facility they have a different wing for those with more challenging behaviors.

terei

I would think this type of behavior is par for the course in MC and would be surprised if they complained about it. I think they are keeping you apprised of her behavior more than expecting you to do anything about it.

pamu

It’s so difficult. I do not have any advice, but I can share my experience. My mom had a brief stint at a lovely AL group home (only 14 residents, country setting, home cooked meals, garden, etc). She lasted just 18 days there. We got positive feedback from the staff up until day 9 or 10. Mom started to accuse staff of different false things, went into other residents rooms to snoop, and started using derogatory (embarrassing) language to the staff and residents. When things started going south the director called in their house geriatric psychiatrist/NP and she started her on some trazedone. We thought it was helping a little until she then started eloping. On the last day she eloped 3 times (it was AL so they don’t lock down during the day). She was found at a home down the street - police were involved in the search. The AL director told us mom would need to be stabilized before she could return. We called 911 from there and she was taken to the ER. The geriatric psychiatrist at the hospital kept her for observation for three days. He did not admit her (there were no beds available). They did however transfer her to a MC from there where she still is now. Mom still exhibits some of those behaviors but it’s “expected “ behavior in MC and the staff is trained. We’ve had multiple care meetings about what can be done to divert some of these behaviors, which includes medication. Even with the extra care and attention Mom actually made it to one of the elevators, a couple months back and they stopped her. Mom got highly agitated and could not calm down. She pushed one of the doctors and was squaring up against everyone. She was also refusing meds. She was brought to the ER for evaluation. Our family was very concerned that she would not be able to go back to that MC after that episode. We asked them if she would get kicked out and they said no. They said that if she gets physically combative again, they will send her back to the ER to get stabilized and could return. My mom is on Medicaid. Our state only allows them to hold their bed for a limited amount of time so if she was hospitalized for a length of time, she could possibly have to go to a different MC that has an available bed. They started her on Seroquel at the hospital and diagnosed her with a mild UTI. (The 7 day results came back negative though so that was confusing). She was released back to the MC 3 days later. Since then the GP at the MC has steadily made small increases which has improved her agitation and some of unpleasant delusions. She still has agitation, paranoia and some delusions but not as intense. Wishing you the best.