Hello all. It's been a long time since I came on here. My husband Joseph has been in a nursing home (Skilled Nursing Facility here in the USA) for a year, and on the whole they manage his occasionally very challenging behaviours competently, calmly and with genuine affection.
Recently, the manager of Joseph’s unit has decided, with my agreement, to let Joseph wander at will throughout the unit. Previously he was confined to his recliner and walked with care assistants at regular intervals. The problem is that Joseph has, as could be expected, a very broad definition of at will, and is often to be found in residents’ room, tidying their affairs and on one occasion, going to sleep in their bed. The staff are flexible, and don’t mind him doing this, but there are some residents who cannot deal with the intrusion, which is totally understandable. So Joseph has to be “redirected”.
Do any of you have any proven techniques for this? The man does not like to be told what to do, and if he is focussed on folding a towel in someone’s room, he is very focussed. It’s extremely hard to get his attention, let alone persuade him gently to move on out. We have tried “Oh, look what’s going on over there!”, and “Let’s go and get a (mythical) coffee” and “What about over there?” And sometimes that works, but less and less frequently as I don’t think he understands much at all of the words he is hearing. I have asked the staff a) to make a list of occasions when he has to be redirected so we can look at it together and work out when this is an absolute necessity and when it isn’t and b) to record who, what, how and when has worked. But they asked me if I had any ideas and I thought of you good people....
Recently, the manager of Joseph’s unit has decided, with my agreement, to let Joseph wander at will throughout the unit. Previously he was confined to his recliner and walked with care assistants at regular intervals. The problem is that Joseph has, as could be expected, a very broad definition of at will, and is often to be found in residents’ room, tidying their affairs and on one occasion, going to sleep in their bed. The staff are flexible, and don’t mind him doing this, but there are some residents who cannot deal with the intrusion, which is totally understandable. So Joseph has to be “redirected”.
Do any of you have any proven techniques for this? The man does not like to be told what to do, and if he is focussed on folding a towel in someone’s room, he is very focussed. It’s extremely hard to get his attention, let alone persuade him gently to move on out. We have tried “Oh, look what’s going on over there!”, and “Let’s go and get a (mythical) coffee” and “What about over there?” And sometimes that works, but less and less frequently as I don’t think he understands much at all of the words he is hearing. I have asked the staff a) to make a list of occasions when he has to be redirected so we can look at it together and work out when this is an absolute necessity and when it isn’t and b) to record who, what, how and when has worked. But they asked me if I had any ideas and I thought of you good people....