Plan to Improve Care for Dementia Patients in Hospitals

There was an article today about geriatric ERs already in existence

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/well/geriatric-emergency-departments.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0VA.Fu8f.K1GEK-lM95n_&smid=url-share

I find this hopeful and I am sure I am among several here who would state that traditional hospital care or ER care does very little to nothing to adequately handle the complex needs of a patient with dementia.

Whenever my mom was hospitalized, my dad never left her alone. After he died, I could not fill that gap and my only sibling was too busy to deal with it. I was appalled that all the staff would do was ask mom what month it was and who the president was and she would answer correctly and they would shrug it off. Then mealtime would arrive and she could not order a meal from a menu, feed herself with utensils, use the TV remote or use the call button for a nurse. Nobody addressed those gaps and I believe mom went a day or two on occasion without food.

I have a sister-in-law who is an oncologist and I noticed that even she brushed it off and made a joke about having dementia patients in the hospital when she was in medical school, and the staff would joke about "having a patient on the 10th floor" when there were only six floors. She actually laughed. I winced at how inappropriate she was.

Dementia patients should not be left alone in hospitals, but frequently they are especially if living in a memory care facility and the staff calls emergency to have them taken to the hospital and the family is not notified until later and you just cannot get there.

Susan - Yes, UGGHH!! …. nicely sums it up without even saying a word.