Hi,
my mum lives on her own and early stages of alzheimers. She is 87 and lives 60 miles away from us (2 daughters and son) and her short term memory is deteriorating. We are encouraging her to move closer to us and for in the meantime we have arranged for carers to go in. They were going in every morning for 30 mins to check that Mum was up, help with having a shower and that she has taken her meds etc. Over the past few months Mum has been skipping meals - she will eat a good meal when she has company but cant be bothered/ or doesn't feel hungry and is not eating her lunch and rarely eats anything at tea-time.
This has been going on for months and although we visit every weekend and buy her food for the week ahead she isn't eating it and throwing it away. We had a meeting with social services a few weeks ago and requested that a carer goes in at teatime to encourage mum to have something - even if just a snack. They would only agree to a 15 minute tea-time visit and have taken this time off the morning visits - so some days she is now only having 2 15 minute visits. This doesn't seem enough to us and I wondered what other people have in place - it doesn't help that mum keeps saying she has eaten (she hasn't) and that she doesn't need a tea-time visit.
Any similar experiences and how you managed this would be very gratefully received - I've a meeting Friday with the social services team to review the visits and I think they need to be for longer - but know they will resist this.
Thanks in advance
my mum lives on her own and early stages of alzheimers. She is 87 and lives 60 miles away from us (2 daughters and son) and her short term memory is deteriorating. We are encouraging her to move closer to us and for in the meantime we have arranged for carers to go in. They were going in every morning for 30 mins to check that Mum was up, help with having a shower and that she has taken her meds etc. Over the past few months Mum has been skipping meals - she will eat a good meal when she has company but cant be bothered/ or doesn't feel hungry and is not eating her lunch and rarely eats anything at tea-time.
This has been going on for months and although we visit every weekend and buy her food for the week ahead she isn't eating it and throwing it away. We had a meeting with social services a few weeks ago and requested that a carer goes in at teatime to encourage mum to have something - even if just a snack. They would only agree to a 15 minute tea-time visit and have taken this time off the morning visits - so some days she is now only having 2 15 minute visits. This doesn't seem enough to us and I wondered what other people have in place - it doesn't help that mum keeps saying she has eaten (she hasn't) and that she doesn't need a tea-time visit.
Any similar experiences and how you managed this would be very gratefully received - I've a meeting Friday with the social services team to review the visits and I think they need to be for longer - but know they will resist this.
Thanks in advance