Mum has now been in her CH for 9 months . Generally I am very pleased with it. The care workers are very nice and friendly and Mum seems settled most of the time. However she has a problem with things going "missing". They seem to go from her bedside table....currently we are missing hearing aids and glasses. Obviously I am getting replacements but this takes time. The CH manager did a search of all the rooms for my Mum's glasses under the pretence of doing a mass glasses clean but Mum' s glasses weren't found. I'm just worried that the replacements will go missing too. Does anyone have any idea what I can do to stop them going missing again?
Missing items in Care Home
- Thread starter Susan11
- Start date
Hearing aids and glasses seem to go astray in many care homes. I wouldn`t mind but unlike ornaments and photos, they are of no use to anyone else.
It doesn`t help people who are dependent on them I know. The fact the carers seem unable to find them shows they are hidden in `safe` places.
The only way this may be avoided is to treat them like medication is treated and keep them out of reach.
It doesn`t help people who are dependent on them I know. The fact the carers seem unable to find them shows they are hidden in `safe` places.
The only way this may be avoided is to treat them like medication is treated and keep them out of reach.
When dad was in a carehome his glasses always went missing as he took them off and put them down wherever.
The deputy manager suggested that getting one of those straps to hang them round his neck might help. I never did though as I didn't see the point if he was taking them off any way.
By this point I'm not sure that dad understood what he was seeing with or without glasses.
The deputy manager suggested that getting one of those straps to hang them round his neck might help. I never did though as I didn't see the point if he was taking them off any way.
By this point I'm not sure that dad understood what he was seeing with or without glasses.
Thanks Sylvia. What's the best way of doing this? Should I ask the carers to put them in a box in the wardrobe or the office. Does this not mean that my Mum won't be able to find them herself and will the carers forget to find them when Mum gets dressed in the morning ?
I would say, talk to the carers as this sort of thing happens a lot in care homes where many residents pick things up and put them down. We once found my mothers walking stick in the neighbours wardrobe...
You can get glasses engraved with initials but I found as time goes on. Mummy doesn't really wear hers any more as she doesn't understand what they are. Everything else is labelled and really precious things tend not to be taken into the care home unless Mummy really wants them.
You can get glasses engraved with initials but I found as time goes on. Mummy doesn't really wear hers any more as she doesn't understand what they are. Everything else is labelled and really precious things tend not to be taken into the care home unless Mummy really wants them.
That`s the trouble @Suan11. There is no super solution and the only way is really trial and error.
Hearing aids and glasses are expensive items and better the person with dementia is able to use them under supervision than having to be without them while waiting for new ones to be made.
will the carers forget to find them when Mum gets dressed in the morning
I would hope with practice, the carers would see this as part of helping with dressing.
My husband was in a small 17 bed home and all the residents` glasses were named on the side arm by the optician and the carers were very careful. Even then his glasses got `lost` but fortunately he wasn`t dependent on them.
Unfortunately, it's a hazard of Care/Nursing homes, losing some items (and sometimes, gaining items!) Things like hearing aids are often lost when the person takes them off and puts them in a puts them in a pocket, and they then go off to the laundry. Definitely, any jewellery you want to keep should be removed for safety, and if your mum would miss wearing jewellery, then replace it with cheap costume jewellery.
I suspect your mother is removing them and putting them 'somewhere safe', which could be down the back of a chair, in a bin, or as Lady A says a pocket. You could ask the carer who does her personal care last thing at night to put them away somewhere she can't reach them and see if that helps. You can get a name engraved on the arm of specs, so you could try that with the new pair - either that, or choose frames which are 'individual' and easily recognisable.
I gave up on my mother's glasses within days. They had very thin wire rims so it wasn't possible to label them, and there were dozens of 'unclaimed' pairs in a cupboard which looked identical and no one knew who they belonged to. Residents took them off in the lounge and then someonelse picked them up and wandered off. It happens with anything you put down. My mother currently has around 35 cuddly toys in her room, only a dozen of which are hers.
I gave up on my mother's glasses within days. They had very thin wire rims so it wasn't possible to label them, and there were dozens of 'unclaimed' pairs in a cupboard which looked identical and no one knew who they belonged to. Residents took them off in the lounge and then someonelse picked them up and wandered off. It happens with anything you put down. My mother currently has around 35 cuddly toys in her room, only a dozen of which are hers.
Every time I visit I have to look for The Banjoman’s glasses and when I find them I make sure he puts them on and within five minutes he’s taken them off again!
People with dementia who live in care homes tend to have very fluid notions of property ownership. They tend to leave their things all over the place, pick up things that other people have left and spirit them away, leave things in pockets of clothes that get sent to the laundry or put things away somewhere safely (aka - hiding them in bizarre places) then forgetting that they have done this. After a long search I once found mums dentures wrapped in tissue paper in her bin. She had obviously "put them away safely" in there, but if I hadnt rescued them they would have undoubtedly been thrown away. Her hearing aids and glasses were always going missing even though they were labelled. Eventually she stopped wearing them.
Ha ha @Sirena - my Mum has also acquired a vast number of cuddly toys and ornaments from around the CH - however it has to be said that quite a few of hers have gone AWOL and are living in other rooms! Her other passion seems to be collecting cushions. I have a regular cushion cull every so often, and often see the ones I have bought or made her in use elsewhere.
@Susan11 - I had a new pair of reading glasses made for Mum as I eventually found the old pair, totally redesigned (1 arm missing, the other bent askew and 1 lens missing) poked away in the top of Mum's wardrobe. She had destroyed them! Mum has since lost her distance pair, bottom denture and all manner of other bits and bobs. The staff are very good and searches for some items were made, but Mum along with her neighbours are very good at hiding things, flushing things, and generally disposing of things. It is quite amazing how much can be stuffed in a flower arrangement, a pillow or poked through the narrow opening of a limited window! All the spectacles had her name engraved on.
I made it clear to the optician that this would be the very last pair. Mum doesn't know how to use the glasses, but knows she usually has glasses (if you get my drift). She has a particular penchant for one old gentleman's pair which she frequently filches
. The 'last pair of readers' are in a box in the Carer's office for use when needed - sadly, Mum really doesn't need them anymore as her ability to join in for craft activities etc is fast declining and she doesn't read, merely looks at the pictures. In all honesty I have my doubts how successful that solution would have worked out ....?
@Susan11 - I had a new pair of reading glasses made for Mum as I eventually found the old pair, totally redesigned (1 arm missing, the other bent askew and 1 lens missing) poked away in the top of Mum's wardrobe. She had destroyed them! Mum has since lost her distance pair, bottom denture and all manner of other bits and bobs. The staff are very good and searches for some items were made, but Mum along with her neighbours are very good at hiding things, flushing things, and generally disposing of things. It is quite amazing how much can be stuffed in a flower arrangement, a pillow or poked through the narrow opening of a limited window! All the spectacles had her name engraved on.
I made it clear to the optician that this would be the very last pair. Mum doesn't know how to use the glasses, but knows she usually has glasses (if you get my drift). She has a particular penchant for one old gentleman's pair which she frequently filches
. The 'last pair of readers' are in a box in the Carer's office for use when needed - sadly, Mum really doesn't need them anymore as her ability to join in for craft activities etc is fast declining and she doesn't read, merely looks at the pictures. In all honesty I have my doubts how successful that solution would have worked out ....?
Eventually I replaced mum's glasses with a pair of cheap ready readers. She wore them on the end of her nose anyway!!
We always managed to find dad's but as his were bi focals and he always looked over the top of them eventually we gave up with them too.
We always managed to find dad's but as his were bi focals and he always looked over the top of them eventually we gave up with them too.
It happens to those who live in their homes too!! Before the dementia took it firm grip on my dad, I can recall having to do complete long forms for his lost passport... paying extra for the quick service... and then for lost passport to turn up days later. Multiple trips accompanying him to the bank as 'they messed up' by not sending his PIN number for his card, having the wrong details for the card, the new card not turnng up, etc!
I can also recall being vexed at Royal Mail for failing to leave their red card to inform me of an item at the sorting office, I might have told them off when I went to get it too.... only to find out that dad had pick up and kept it on him for days.
To get round this, when I visit my Mum I bring a pair of glasses with me (and take them away again), if we are going to be "reading" a book or a magazine - usually me reading aloud. Increasingly, Mummy doesn't like wearing the glasses - she has long since forgotten what they were for. Fortunately she only needed them for reading.
I think that items of monetary or sentimental value should not be taken to the nursing home. Yes, a tad more difficult with teeth & eyeglasses. My mother wore glasses but eventually I simply took them home as she was no longer watching television, or reading or indeed doing anything that involved her focusing and paying attention.
We did have clothing go missing (no, unlike my dreaded aunt I did not think the staff were stealing clothing that someone had been doubly incontinent in) but clothing that wasn't my mother's did show up in her closet. I just bought Mum new clothing and turned in the stuff that wasn't hers..
My mother wore glasses but eventually I simply took them home as she was no longer watching television, or reading or indeed doing anything that involved her focusing and paying attention.We did have clothing go missing (no, unlike my dreaded aunt I did not think the staff were stealing clothing that someone had been doubly incontinent in) but clothing that wasn't my mother's did show up in her closet. I just bought Mum new clothing and turned in the stuff that wasn't hers..
Thanks to everyone for their replies. Mum does not have anything of value in her room and I don't mind some clothes going missing and we return everything that isn't hers but the Hearing Aids missing are causing her to be anxious as she can't hear the other residents properly...the carers know to speak up. It also takes quite a time to get the audiologist round to get new moulds made before new aids can be made. And then what happens if they going missing soon after they are replaced.
My father has been in a care home for 9 months. He has lost money from his wallet, his wallet, 4 watches ( they turn up again full of water, having been put through the laundry , a dental plate with teeth (£650), 3 pairs of glasses and so on. Conversely, his walking stick has been found in other residents toilets, he once greeted us whilst wearing someone else’s watch which was 9ct gold and worth a few grand !! He constantly accuses all and sundry of stealing his stuff but he is just as bad. I used to get really annoyed but now I buy him the cheapest watch I can find in Argos (knowing full well it’ll be ruined within a fortnight) and occasionally when he mentions the dental plate I just say I must make an appointment but never do. He can manage perfectly without it and I don’t want to spend another £650 of his money on something he’ll wrap in a serviette and throw away within a week!!! Every item in his room - ornaments, pictures and books are marked underneath or inside with a permanent marker as well as all his toiletries as they all go missing too! It’s just one of those things ..............
, a dental plate with teeth (£650), 3 pairs of glasses and so on. Conversely, his walking stick has been found in other residents toilets, he once greeted us whilst wearing someone else’s watch which was 9ct gold and worth a few grand !! He constantly accuses all and sundry of stealing his stuff but he is just as bad. I used to get really annoyed but now I buy him the cheapest watch I can find in Argos (knowing full well it’ll be ruined within a fortnight) and occasionally when he mentions the dental plate I just say I must make an appointment but never do. He can manage perfectly without it and I don’t want to spend another £650 of his money on something he’ll wrap in a serviette and throw away within a week!!! Every item in his room - ornaments, pictures and books are marked underneath or inside with a permanent marker as well as all his toiletries as they all go missing too! It’s just one of those things ..............Dad is having a new hearing aid for the second time because of fiddling with his hearing aids and leaving them wherever. I have made sure that the home has spare hearing aids and glasses and they keep them in the office. Ask the home to keep these things in their office if possible.
MaNaAk
