I sleep in the bedroom with my spouse and keep the bedroom door locked so he can't get out. What do you do when it is a parent? How do you keep them from wandering? I ask because I want to go out of town and don't know how the caregiver will handle this.
I think that I would explore having husband stay in a secure facility while you are out of town, if funds allow. When a dementia patient wanders, leaving them in the care of someone who is not used to supervising someone around the clock might be quite challenging. Are the new caretakers prepared to lose sleep for the length of your your trip? I would think that professionals might be more adept when security is a risk.
Above Sunnygirl had a good idea, see if a local Assisted Living/Memory Care facility has "respite care" where hubby can stay while you are away. Who knows he might enjoy his "vacation" while meeting new people his own age :)
I know our loved ones are not prisoners but for their own safety, can you install a bed alarm? Once they get out of bed, the alarm will go off. Nursing homes have this feature. Or is possible to install a lock on the door from the outside. Or putting a security camera of some sort into their bedroom or a baby monitor? I hope some of these suggestions are useful. I know its not easy.
We've compiled an article of tips and tricks from members on how they handle wandering. This may be helpful as well. Check it out here: https://www.agingcare.com/articles/wandering-and-getting-lost-top-tips-from-dementia-caregivers-226186.htm
Kind regards,
The AgingCare Team
I currently use a baby monitor with my grandma. It alerts me of any noises in the room and allows me to see if she's still in her bed or chair. She is trained now to yell for help but before that it was a challenge to keep her in bed especially if the urge to go to the bathroom came around. I even have one that pushes to talk so I can talk to her and reassure her without getting out of bed. She hears my voice and assumes I'm in the chair next to her and she just goes peacefully back to sleep (if she's not yelling really loudly that is).
Before she got too bad we also used a push button pager on her. She would wear it around her neck and she could plush the button and it would automatically call someone on her list of people to call. She used it many times to call me to ask me a question since she could remember to push the button but not to pick up the phone and dial a phone number. It was all automatic so worked great. We got that at Walmart and it was called Freedom Alert. What I loved about this was that there was no monthly fee and it could be set up to call individuals rather than 911 all the time.