Hello,
My dad has recently moved to residential care. To cut a long story (who doesn't have a long story?!) short, he has almost nil mobility, coupled with memory problems / confusion (he is undiagnosed but we believe it to be vascular dementia). This means that, he either forgets he shouldn't move without assistance - 2 carers use a stand aid to transfer him - or else he believes he CAN walk, so he frequently tries to get up and walk a couple of paces, and then of course is falling. He has other health problems, including diabetes and is on blood thinners for AF - plus he suffered a stroke some years ago which kick-started the mobility issues. He is therefore very high risk for fall injury. Last year he fell and sustained a brain injury as a result - from when the memory problems really began. He has had multiple falls in the home over the past 3 months that he has been there - one of which resulted in an A&E trip when he bumped his head again. The home have put an alarmed mat in front of his chair so they can be quickly alerted if he stands, and we have a big sign next to him telling him to stay in his chair..but, still he tries to get up.
Does anyone have any similar experience? If he had poor mobility but no dementia, or dementia but good mobility, I think we could find a strategy, but this combination of very bad mobility AND memory problems is very challenging, and we are all waiting for a bad accident to happen.....
Thank you
My dad has recently moved to residential care. To cut a long story (who doesn't have a long story?!) short, he has almost nil mobility, coupled with memory problems / confusion (he is undiagnosed but we believe it to be vascular dementia). This means that, he either forgets he shouldn't move without assistance - 2 carers use a stand aid to transfer him - or else he believes he CAN walk, so he frequently tries to get up and walk a couple of paces, and then of course is falling. He has other health problems, including diabetes and is on blood thinners for AF - plus he suffered a stroke some years ago which kick-started the mobility issues. He is therefore very high risk for fall injury. Last year he fell and sustained a brain injury as a result - from when the memory problems really began. He has had multiple falls in the home over the past 3 months that he has been there - one of which resulted in an A&E trip when he bumped his head again. The home have put an alarmed mat in front of his chair so they can be quickly alerted if he stands, and we have a big sign next to him telling him to stay in his chair..but, still he tries to get up.
Does anyone have any similar experience? If he had poor mobility but no dementia, or dementia but good mobility, I think we could find a strategy, but this combination of very bad mobility AND memory problems is very challenging, and we are all waiting for a bad accident to happen.....
Thank you