Hello I live in the UK and my mother has been recently diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's. We are currently working with her to organise her life so she can live independently as long as possible. There are two areas we need a bit of help and advice in. 1: My Mum currently lives independently with some help from her family with shopping etc. However we recognise the Alzheimer's is a degenerative condition and therefore she will require day to day care at some point in the future. How have you guys introduced home care and what form has it taken? What care providers have you used? etc 2: Finances have recently become an issue as she has been the victim of multiple cold call scams. We have power of attorney and are currently in the processes of taking over her bank accounts so we can keep closer control. How have you guys minimised exposure to people trying to take advantage? What systems are there so my Mum can have access to money for the day to day but not exposure her self if she gives, for example, her card details to someone trying to rip her off (happened multiple times now). Any advice would be much appreciated, even if its just links to good websites to look at. Thanks!
Help with home care and finances
- Thread starter Ian_p
- Start date
Hello @Ian_p
I recommend you buy a nuisance call blocker asap. There are several available on Amazon but TrueCall is often recommended on the site as being particularly good. I used to give mum a fairly small amount of cash to keep with her and kept her cards safe myself, as she found them too confusing, but other members will no doubt have more advice about that.
Has your mum had a needs assessment? I'm not sure how well things are running at the moment but here is a link which might be useful :
www.alzheimers.org.uk
If you are able, you could arrange care visits from a local private care company in the meantime. Age UK provide some useful services. Again, I am not sure how well they are running at present but worth a look:
www.ageuk.org.uk
I recommend you buy a nuisance call blocker asap. There are several available on Amazon but TrueCall is often recommended on the site as being particularly good. I used to give mum a fairly small amount of cash to keep with her and kept her cards safe myself, as she found them too confusing, but other members will no doubt have more advice about that.
Has your mum had a needs assessment? I'm not sure how well things are running at the moment but here is a link which might be useful :
Assessment for care and support in England
What are care assessments and how can people with dementia and their carers access them? This information is for care and support in England.
www.alzheimers.org.uk
If you are able, you could arrange care visits from a local private care company in the meantime. Age UK provide some useful services. Again, I am not sure how well they are running at present but worth a look:
Age UK services for the elderly | Age UK
From befriending and social activities to footcare, information and advice and our charity shops, Age UK delivers a number of services designed to help older people
www.ageuk.org.uk
@Ian_p if your mum still has her debit/credit card scratch the three numbers off the back so she can't give them to scammers. She can still use it in shops and at cash machines but she won't be able to use it over the phone.
Keep a record of the numbers for yourself in case she wants to buy anything online.
It worked for dad.
Keep a record of the numbers for yourself in case she wants to buy anything online.
It worked for dad.
We had the same issues with mum and cold callers. The best thing we did, which totally stopped the phone calls, was install the True Call blocker and set it to the highest setting which meant that only numbers that I put on a trusted list could get through to mum. Everyone else heard a message telling them to phone me, giving my mobile number.
We also made sure that only the minimum amount was left in her current account and went to paperless bills so mum could not see that we were transferring surplus money to her savings account. Scratching off the cvc numbers from the back of the card definitely gave us piece of mind.
As mum also was bothered by people knocking on her door to ask for money, we installed the internet at her house and then Ring cameras, on the doorbell and outside the house. We had alerts every time someone knocked at the door and could speak to them through the device to see what they wanted. One scammer still persisted in calling and as we could record a video of him at the door asking for money, we reported him to the police and he was arrested and sentenced - as he was known to them for preying on elderly people to get money for drugs.
There is a lot of technology out there nowadays which you can use, we had Hive heating controls as well, we reckon that we kept mum safe at home for two years longer than if we had not put these in place.
We also made sure that only the minimum amount was left in her current account and went to paperless bills so mum could not see that we were transferring surplus money to her savings account. Scratching off the cvc numbers from the back of the card definitely gave us piece of mind.
As mum also was bothered by people knocking on her door to ask for money, we installed the internet at her house and then Ring cameras, on the doorbell and outside the house. We had alerts every time someone knocked at the door and could speak to them through the device to see what they wanted. One scammer still persisted in calling and as we could record a video of him at the door asking for money, we reported him to the police and he was arrested and sentenced - as he was known to them for preying on elderly people to get money for drugs.
There is a lot of technology out there nowadays which you can use, we had Hive heating controls as well, we reckon that we kept mum safe at home for two years longer than if we had not put these in place.
