My mom is getting into things that are becoming a safety hazard to her. How can I keep my mom safe in her own assisted living room?

I agree that you should remove most of the books just to keep her safe, and yes someone needs to keep a better eye on her. The pictures could be something you may want to keep. Make a copy of the pictures on a copier, and give her the copy. You keep the originals.

Thank you for suggesting the digital picture frames. What a great idea!!

For the pictures, you could try downloading into one of those digital picture frames. They can be set up so the pictures show up randomly. A friend of mine did this for his mother-in-law with dementia, and she would sit in front of the frame and look at the pictures for long periods of time. It provided lots of opportunities for conversations and redirection. CaraMia has a good idea about limiting the number of books in her room. Good luck, and take care of yourself.

We have removed many things from my mother's room. (Especially anything of value or anything that may hurt her). I agree that when your loved one can no longer even watch TV it is very sad. My mom is there now. I have found that putting the TV on one of the music stations and changing the station frequently seems to help. She still has her memories. My mom is 95. I agree this is a terrible condition. I am scared for myself. I think about it happening to me.

If you don't mind me asking, how old is your mom, mine is going to be 89 in 3 weeks and I keep wondering how long she is going to hold on.

Oh familiar! My Mom emptied her closets and drawers and ripped up any papers she could find, pictures too!:(
I put a few things in her closet and drawers to play with and the rest of the room was mostly cleared out with big recliners for her and a bed and a plastic lightweight bureau. I also left in a load of towels for her to play with and she would fold and unfold them sometimes. We also have the door cut in half with it a latch hook lock on the hallway side so she can stand there and look at us, etc and be safe in her room. We locked it at night and she used to come to the door and say "HI!" and go back to bed, and repeat it up again "HI" over and over and over but she was safe and we could see her. Since her stroke it all stopped and as much as it aggravated me to hear her yell hi all night long, I miss it now as she cant get up. Good luck, its a phase I guess you could say.

My MIL will cannot even stay focused for 1 minute. She is late stage now and she just tears up magazines. She cannot even watch TV. It is so sad to see them sit all day and not be able to do anything! She is still at home with us but a nurse comes in every day and does her hair, nails etc.. This is a terrible disease!

Hi, jenny! You might consider taking away all the books other than a couple and letting her know that you will be buying her new books to read. Wait for a bit, then when she's ready for a new book, take the others away so that she isn't able to stack them. I would clear her room as much as possible of bulkier items like books. As for the photos that she is cutting up, there may be nothing you can do to make her stop doing that. Sounds like it's an activity she enjoys absent mindedly? Maybe you can give her a magazine to cut pictures out? Sounds like her Alzheimer's may be progressing.

It may be time to take the next step-AL may now be the right place for her at this point or maybe the facility needs to keep a better watch on her since it is a memory care unit-I would talk to the director it sounds like someone in not doing their job to prevent this from happening-maybe taking all the bookcases out and just using a table as long as someone can keep her supplied with books would help for the time being. Let us know how it goes because we all can learn from each other. Even young people fall over things left on the floor.