Hi Everyone
My mother-in-law has been in a Care Home for people with dementia for 2-3 years. We don't think the one she is in is particularly good in terms of catering for people as individuals and understanding their specific needs, but we have been reluctant to move her incase the change is too confusing. She is quite with it a lot of the time and other times she talks as if the past and present are happening all at once. She constantly wants to "go home" but we think home is where she used to live years ago when she first married - miles away and with her grown up sons small children. Consequently she is always packing up to get ready. We visit her twice a week and she has an outside carer coming in twice a week to do activities with her as the home don't really do any. Recently she fell and broke her hip in the home. She survived the operation and is doing well with her mobility. Before the fall she used to lie on her bed a lot (not good I know) and she didn't like being in the common lounge (can't blame her). Since the fall the staff have been persuading her to sit in the lounge because they say she only lies down on her bed when she goes to her room. So now every time we see her all she talks about is going home - I think being amongst all the people downstairs has made her more aware of her situation. What do people think? I think we should ask the staff to leave her in her room and not worry about the bed as long as they give her exercise three times a day along the corridor. We can't stop her getting onto her bed and maybe she just feels more comfortable there. Any views? Thanks so much.
