I'm curious, what do they do to enforce a quarantine of dementia residents in a facility?

cwillie: My goodness. I hope that they get the situation under control soon.

It's a small town facility Hugemom: one floor, two wings and under 50 residents with a mixture ranging from those who are very frail like my mom to mentally challenged, dementia, physical disabilities and a few I'm not sure about.

Was the woman in a Lockdown unit? That’s where 90% of the Dementia patients in my mom’s facility were. I’m surprised an alarm didn’t go off. However, I agree that (if she wasn’t in a locked unit) she shouldn’t have been allowed to mingle if she had any sort of virus. Wow. These can be deadly.

Having room mates adds a whole 'nother layer of concern, the NH has several rooms with 3 or 4 people so I'm doubtful they can give them all a private space if there is an outbreak. People in the community are starting to get sick so it is probably only a matter of time before I get to see first hand how they manage things here.

Mom was kept in islolation in her room after discharge from the hospital for as long as she was taking Tamiflu- staff wore protective masks
and her roommate was relocated
She got a bit stir crazy being kept in a room with nothing to do - no tv

Others far sicker than her were still roaming and spewing germs about but she did test positive for the flu

The woman who was ill should have been taken back to her room. If she wasn't, tell a staffer.

My mom had to go to Rehab center after having a 2 week stay in the hospital with GL bleeding. They placed her in a semi-private room with a person that had a cold, but didn't tell me. When her daughters came to visit her one day they stated that they thought it was more than a cold so they informed the nurse and the nurse said she will get over it soon. She died two days later with pneumonia. I was upset that they allow my mother to be in the same room and ask a different nurse to listen to my mom breathing, because she was having some difficulties with it. The nurse didn't seem to care so I took my mom to the clinic and she was diagnosis with bronchitis. The Rehab was upset that I did that, but I told them about how the nurse didn't care and they took up for her. My mom can't speak for herself so I have to do it. She back home now and I'm glad that she didn't get any worse while she was there. Makes you wonder why they work with the elderly if they don't care what happens to them.

A question of safety first. Thanks.

Meallen, I will answer what Savitaa wrote since I am on-line. There are State laws where in a nursing home or assisted living that the residents cannot have full-length bed rails similar to what are used in a hospital. Residents have been know to get tangled up with their legs and head within the rails.

Usually senior facilities will lower the bed down to as far as it will go, place fall mats on both sides of the bed. My Mom was a climber, even though she could no longer stand up her brain through she could, thus Mom would be tumbling out of her bed on a regular basis. Eventually stuffing pillows all around her helped, but it made it difficult for Mom to roll over to get to another comfortable position.

Savitaa, I'm not sure I understand. Is it illegal to raise the bed rails on a patient with a history of falling out of bed if they don't consent?

my friends mom is in an AL facility in N. Dakota. The flu hit pretty hard and they confined the residents to their room for 2 weeks and then had to extend that another week. Her mom wasn't too happy as she is kind of hyper but it was for the best.

I can certainly envision some of the younger residents of mom's nursing home being ill with the flu or norovirus or the like and still being well enough to get up and wander. And of course we can't lock them in their rooms... can you imagine even trying that, aside from the ethical implications it would be bedlam!

I've asked someone who works at a different facility and they just shrugged and laughed. The most they can do is to take them back to their room and try to confine them to their own wing or floor. And if they have a room mate... sigh. Now I have a better understanding of why illness sweeps through facilities so rapidly and completely.

I know last winter several residents at dad’s place were confined to their room. A couple rooms had a small table with sanitizer and masks outside their room. Last year and this year there are warning signs on the front door.

It's illegal to restrain them in any way (in my state), even if it's a health or safety issue.
For example, to use a seat belt on a wheelchair or bars on a bed. They can try to isolate yet it doesn't mean it will happen...

Guess it was a major problem in the past (elders were getting strapped into bed and unable to move! Can you imagine?!)

Good question, we have confirmed cases of the flu in Mom's memory care home, and they shut the doors between the sections of the building and highly encourage all visitors to wait. The patients with the flu are too ill to wander I think, and it's posted outside their bedroom doors to use caution and a face mask.