Hi all - it's been a while since I last posted - my dad's been in a nursing home for nearly 2 years, with the odd fall here and there, but mostly he's been doing pretty well. He fell on August 20th and broke his hip. He had surgery on the 21st and was back at the nursing home on the 23rd. I just got a call from them that they found him on the floor and didn't want to move him, so they called an ambulance and now he's on the way to the hospital. I'm the only family he has and so I guess I'll be heading to the hospital to meet him, but I'm just so exhausted with it. I ended up having to take time off work to deal with his hip and surgery, and I don't know how to keep him safe in the home. He has a low bed with a bar on it, so I don't know how he fell. He also has an alarm on his bed, but it goes off every time he blinks so I don't know that they pay attention. I've been reading a lot of research and studies on falls, hip surgery, and the success of physical therapy in patients with dementia, but I just don't know what to do about keeping him safe. The NH is 25 miles away because it was the only one that would take a smoker. I'd appreciate any advice on how to keep him in bed and safe or just in general how to deal with this. Thanks :I
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As FF says, elders fall.
My Dad is in Memory Care and he is always tumbling here and there. He has a bad knee that give out, even while using his rolling walker. He will also fall from his bed. He's suppose to use the call string at his bed or his pendent but he "doesn't want to bother anyone".... [sigh].
He does have a mat on the floor and the bed is very low. I'll be talking to them today about what steps they plan on taking to reduce the risks, but I know they will always be pretty high. The good news is, he was fine after his fall, and was only at the ER for a couple of hours.
They are supposed to check on him regularly, especially when his bed alarm goes off, but, like I said, it's so sensitive and is always going off so I think they need to change how it works - it used to only go off when he sensed he had stood up so maybe we can find a mid-point.
Thanks!
I know how stressful it must be for you. My dad fell a lot too when I was caring for him at home. Sometimes I could get him up by myself, sometimes I had to call the paramedics to come and get him up. He never broke a hip or anything else but it was very stressful nonetheless. We got to the point where we just kind of bounced from one crisis to the next.
Can you request that the staff look in on your dad on a regular basis?