Does a nursing home replace items they’ve misplaced?

My mom’s nursing home misplaced her things, too. And she also threw them out. (Usually out the door). Once, they said they were having her easy chair cleaned because she’d had an accident in it. I never saw the chair again. But I understand how you feel. Go to administration and report the losses. Is it possible it was left in physical therapy if he has therapy sessions? Drop a mention to the floor nurse and his aides, or even to the director of nursing.

Make sure your father’s name is on EVERYTHING. Use masking tape and permanent marker on his footrests. Also, don’t bring in irreplaceable items.

Stencil Dad name on the back of his chair. I used address labels for the feet. Then I took the wide clear tape and wrapped it around the address label. I did this on Moms walker and cane. They have to be cut off so not easy to remove. Take pictures of glasses, hearing aids, clothing and shoes. Make sure his name is on everything.

Mixing up clothes is an annoying but relatively inexpensive mistake.

Losing prescription glasses or hearing aids is much more costly and replacing them is often difficult, although their small size make it easier to understand how it can happen.

Losing part from a wheelchair is a whole 'nother level of incompetence and I would insist on a door by door search. My mom's chair cost over $5K and her ROHO cushion almost $700, if something happened to it there is no excuse that would satisfy me.

Ok...here's an update. I continually "dogged" them and emailed all 3 (the DoN, The care coordinator nurse, and the administrator). Yesterday the care coordinator nurse, said she was looking for his footrests and located them on another wheelchair!! So she labeled them and put them back on my dad's. Then she said they did a search that turned up 3 wheelchair pads. They are all in a sack at the nurses station for me to look at. I think by my telling them they needed to replace what went missing through no fault of my dad's or that they could buy new ones, got their attention. I’m sure I’m known as a "b...tch" but the squeaky wheel gets the grease. It burns me up they are so careless with people’s belongings. I can only fight so many battles but this was one I was willing to fight. Some of the lost items and broken things are my dad's own fault. He threw away a lot of things in anger after moving in and also with his dementia he took scissors and cut up all the new socks I bought him, saying they weren’t his. (Even though his name was on them). I just have to say..."oh well"... and move on. He wrote with a sharpie on the top of his brand new slippers because he didn’t like them. I tell you I think he will outlive me if this continues. Thanks everyone for you great suggestions.

The NH my mother was in had a reimbursement fund that they would utilize to reimburse patients for lost items. The NH my mother was in was relatively small - 2 floors only - but they routinely lost her clothing, put someone else's clothing on her, or broke/lost items in her room. The staff helped themselves to the sugar-free life saver candies I had in her room (I'm sure Mom told them it was ok) - but they were taking handfuls of them at a time and putting them in their scrub uniform pockets to carry around with them. I was replacing them at a ridiculous rate.

I started taking Mom's clothing home to launder it myself, because:
1) The clothing kept disappearing - Mom was a large woman and her clothing was not cheap. A simple muu-muu nightgown in the style she liked could be $30 to replace.

2) I just couldn't stand the thought of her clothing being tossed into a communal hamper with other residents' soiled clothing - they kept these wheeled hampers in the hallways at all times, and all dirty bedding, clothing, etc all went into them. I don't know about you, but even if they are laundering them in hot water, etc - I don't want my mom's clothes in with someone else's that may have C-Diff or something else. And just the thought of someone else's waste getting on the clothes is just gross. They lose enough dignity being in a NH as it is - no need to make it worse.

Sometimes, the missing clothing would turn back up, no worse for wear. Sometimes it just never would re-appear at all. I never filed a claim for the missing items - I got tired of fighting the battle.

I was sitting across from Mom in the AL and thought something was off. I finally realized she wasn't wearing her own glasses, they were rectangle not oval. The CNAs and I were trying to figure out where her glasses could have gotten mixed up. Realized that Mom had her hair done that day. The hairdresser was gone but...she is a friend of mine so I called her and asked who else had she done at the same time. TG she remembered and we found the lady who my friend had given Moms glasses to.

Just a thought;
If you wind up finding or buying new footrests, tie AND tape a heavy canvas bag with a drawstring to the wheelchair handle (with his name on it!) so they can put the footrests in the bag when he is being transported.

Sometimes other residents take things (often due to dementia), so this can't be discounted. Fortunately, the nursing home staff probably learn quickly who these residents are. However, I know of a case in which a resident walked into another room, took someone's dentures and threw them away!

My mother's nursing home has occasional "laundry days" on which one can search through a stack of clothes and find missing items. Sometimes name tags fade or get torn off. My sister found a few of my mother's missing items by searching through the laundry stacks.

Ah I joy, he hasn’t been in therapy so that’s out. I didn’t think I had to put his name on his footrests and cushions or I would have. I’m so tired of this and he’s only been in 4 months. Argh!

Joann. Thanks for your suggestions. I guess I was naive to think a wheelchair wouldn’t be a problem. Found out yesterday they lost the cushion I bought for it too. I looked at the guidelines and it says they aren’t responsible for lost items. (Rolling eyes here) very convenient. Especially since they’re the ones that take the foot rests off when they get on the bus for outings and mix them all up. I never thought about labeling all these things. I will now.