It's worth a try but unfortunately this is a short term "solution". She really needs 24/7 supervision now. You never know when she will wander again. Poor thing.
Carolyndsch, forget about a GPS, the main issue is that your Mom should NOT be wandering.
If she wishes to go out, then someone needs to be with her. She should not be on her own, anything could happen. Especially now a days when car drivers are distracted by their cellphones, etc.
I absolutely agree ! She got up during the night , luckily she didn’t get out of the yard when I caught her … it just terrifies me it’ll happen again, I have taken precautions but still …
Carolyndsch, since your Mom had gotten up at night and went outside, one thing I have read is to place a black throw rug in front of the exit doors. A person with dementia will think the throw rug is a deep hole in the floor and will be afraid to step into it. Remove said rug during the day so Mom won't see that it is actually a rug. Hope this will work.
You need to install latch locks on the exterior doors, high enough so that mom can't reach them. Tracking devices aren't the answer for dementia patients. 24/7 care in a locked safe environment is.
Bought my step-mother two, both were lost outside in days. She is now where she belongs in Memory Care. She has escaped 2 times, they found her, thank God!
One thing I found helpful when my husband could no longer be left alone was an alarm system that went off if he opened an outside door. That way I could always catch him before he got lost. Unfortunately, he started trying to go out at night, so I was constantly being woken up. After 4 months of not much sleep, I gave up and put him in Memory Care - one of the saddest days of my life, but at least he was in a safe place.
sounds like you did the right thing. keeping him safe at home was not possible, especially for just one caregiver. I hope he adjusted OK and you can visit with him.
Yep. Or a child's 'jiobit' or a smartwatch, or an Amazon Tile.
But you have to keep the tracking device on the person, which often proves to be next to impossible.
There's always the fall monitor. Mother's had a tracking device on it, but IDK what brand it was. Since she took her fall pendant off all the time it wasn't really that useful. The day she died, she fell and the monitor wasn't on her, so she laid alone for about 1/2 hr.
No matter what we put on my MIL, she will not wear it. That;s kind of the biggest problem with all tracking devices. If the person refuses to wear it, you're back at square one.
Yea that’s why I was thinking about the watch … she wouldn’t know what the fall monitor was and wouldn’t keep it on , but a watch she is used to wearing …. Thanks for sharing!
Personal opinion but as soon as wandering becomes an issue she should not be living alone. I would say the same if there was another safety issue. Wandering, falls, leaving appliances on that should be off ( stove)or turning off appliances that should be left on(furnace) are 2 examples. But there are watches, phones and “tiles” that can facilitate tracking. You should also let the local police department that there is a vulnerable adult so that if she does wander they will be more willing to initiate a search immediately.
Check with you local sheriff's office to see if they have a program to address the issue. We live near the county line and both counties have a program where you can get a special bracelet or anklet to track a person if they wander. I don't think they charge for it.
I highly recommend doing this even if a loved one is in a facility because the husband of a friend wandered during the night and fortunately someone driving by saw him where he had fallen on the side of the road. They called the authorities who then had to try and find where he had wandered from and the facility had not even missed him yet! Even in a secured facility, residents can find a way to leave unnoticed.
Keeping her from wandering off should be a priority, I agree with others here. If she continues to somehow escape your house and wander off, it may be time to consider placing her in a memory care unit. Some measures that can be taken to prevent her from wandering off would be
1.) Install double-keyed door knobs (door knobs that require keys on both sides of the knob to unlock it) on either her bedroom door (you can lock the door just at night, when she is supposed to be asleep), or else on all doors that lead outside (the front door, patio door, door to garage, etc.). Have a professional locksmith install this, these types of door locks are quite hard to install oneself.
2.) If your house has a patio door leading to the backyard which would not allow for a double-keyed doorknob, try drilling a screw eye into the stud of the wall closest to the patio door, and then looping a chain through the patio door handle and the screw eye; attach both ends of this chain to a combination lock or a keyed padlock. Screw eyes can be found at Home Depot at the link -
Chains small enough to fit through a screw eye can also be found at Home Depot.
If she does wander out, the consequences could be quite disastrous. It may take hours to find her, during which she could succumb to harsh weather/the elements. She could easily cross busy streets or intersections. She could hide in a storm drain, behind an alley, or in some other obscure place where it would, again, take hours to find her, if even at all, sometimes; she could also hop on a bus. Basically, once they wander out, you do not know even which direction they went in, and it could be very hard to locate them.
I hope that you are able to handle this difficult situation.
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If she wishes to go out, then someone needs to be with her. She should not be on her own, anything could happen. Especially now a days when car drivers are distracted by their cellphones, etc.
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Good luck.
But you have to keep the tracking device on the person, which often proves to be next to impossible.
There's always the fall monitor. Mother's had a tracking device on it, but IDK what brand it was. Since she took her fall pendant off all the time it wasn't really that useful. The day she died, she fell and the monitor wasn't on her, so she laid alone for about 1/2 hr.
No matter what we put on my MIL, she will not wear it. That;s kind of the biggest problem with all tracking devices. If the person refuses to wear it, you're back at square one.
But there are watches, phones and “tiles” that can facilitate tracking. You should also let the local police department that there is a vulnerable adult so that if she does wander they will be more willing to initiate a search immediately.
I highly recommend doing this even if a loved one is in a facility because the husband of a friend wandered during the night and fortunately someone driving by saw him where he had fallen on the side of the road. They called the authorities who then had to try and find where he had wandered from and the facility had not even missed him yet! Even in a secured facility, residents can find a way to leave unnoticed.
1.) Install double-keyed door knobs (door knobs that require keys on both sides of the knob to unlock it) on either her bedroom door (you can lock the door just at night, when she is supposed to be asleep), or else on all doors that lead outside (the front door, patio door, door to garage, etc.). Have a professional locksmith install this, these types of door locks are quite hard to install oneself.
2.) If your house has a patio door leading to the backyard which would not allow for a double-keyed doorknob, try drilling a screw eye into the stud of the wall closest to the patio door, and then looping a chain through the patio door handle and the screw eye; attach both ends of this chain to a combination lock or a keyed padlock. Screw eyes can be found at Home Depot at the link -
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-4-in-x-2-1-2-in-Stainless-Steel-Screw-Eye-2-Pack-803704/205883024
Chains small enough to fit through a screw eye can also be found at Home Depot.
If she does wander out, the consequences could be quite disastrous. It may take hours to find her, during which she could succumb to harsh weather/the elements. She could easily cross busy streets or intersections. She could hide in a storm drain, behind an alley, or in some other obscure place where it would, again, take hours to find her, if even at all, sometimes; she could also hop on a bus. Basically, once they wander out, you do not know even which direction they went in, and it could be very hard to locate them.
I hope that you are able to handle this difficult situation.
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