Using Walker

[EilidhK]

Hi All,

Hope you and your loved ones are all keeping safe and well....

New here... its my Dad who is looking after my Mum who has dementia and he is having challenges trying to get to to use her walker. He will show her and she uses it once but then 5 mins later is then using the furniture to move around or sometimes crawling across the floor.
Aside from constant repeat showing her how to use it does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations please?

Many thanks!

 

[Bunpoots]

Welcome to DTP @EilidhK

My dad was given a walker and he used to push it into a corner and use it as a clothes horse!

I found the only way to get him to use it was to put it in front of him. When I wasn't there to do that he used the furniture and walls. He even forgot how to use his stick which he'd used for years. I'm afraid it's just what happens with dementia.

 

[Duggies-girl]

My dad used to hang his Walker on the wardrobe door. He sometimes used it for walking but never in the dark.

 

[Weasell]

perhaps you could get the OT round to the house to make recommendations.
(ask the GP to create a referral)
It isn’t your mums fault, she would genuinely forget what she has been instructed to do.
The OT ordered a lovely pull down handrail for just outside the shower, and other things.
The property could have handrails all over, maybe a commode for next to the bed if appropriate.
Just a tip from my experience, the man that came to do the work ordered seemed timid and apologetic towards me about the work he was doing.
He needed reassurance that I did not care at all if the work he was about to undertake devalued the bungalow, I felt I needed to communicate that all that mattered was that mum was safe tomorrow !

 

[canary]

OH has a frame to get round the house, but will only occasionally use it. It seems to be par for the course! If he is particularly wobbly I insist that he uses it, but mostly he will go to almost any length to avoid it. He has lots of falls too, but seems to bounce quite well.

 

[Weasell]

Also consider printing out

https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/threads/compassionate-communication-with-the-memory-impaired.30801/

and giving it to your dad.

The reason I first visited to the forum was that I felt my communication with mum was all negatives, this forum has helped so much!

 

[lemonbalm]

My mum never got the hang of her walking frame. She would drag it behind her most of the time. We got a three wheeled one, from the occupational therapist, with a shopping bag thing on the front, which she finds easier to use.