We knew adjusting to Alzheimer’s assisted living wouldn’t go without a hitch but the calm of the first days and Mom’s comments that she liked the place told us that eventually all would be well.
I stayed away for the week as planned but reports from family members who visited and staff members at the facility were good. I was a little concerned when my sister-in-law mentioned that Mom knew she had been there four days. Hmmmm, was she counting the days until I came to take her home?
There were a couple of issues that popped up during that first week. The thermostat cover in Mom’s room disappeared and the room was hot. Then I received the call asking if Mom wore a bra. I told them no but wasn’t surprised to hear the question. The hot room had given Mom the notion to change her top – to one that wasn’t appropriate without something underneath. I learned early on that it was better to keep Mom in two layers of tops and ensure one of them was long so that she didn’t accidentally flash someone. J
Yesterday I finally visited myself and took my daughter along with me for moral support. As I expected, Mom was “packed” to go home. How interesting that was! As I unpacked, I found clean clothes were mixed in with dirty clothes and even soiled Depends. All of that on top of clean doll clothes that Mom had folded and packed in a basket that belonged to the facility. Heading to her dresser drawers, I found snacks tucked away, a cloth napkin from the dining room in her purse (nothing else) and the missing thermostat cover.
While I was doing that, my wonderful daughter was spending the time talking to Mom, explaining why she would be staying in her new home.
Next I addressed the other issues that I found. We moved Mom in while the Health and Wellness Director was on vacation; therefore Mom had not been assessed. I thought she was probably going to need more care than they were initially thinking and by the end of my week away, some of those things were obvious to me although they may have easily been overlooked. I worked with the just returned director, the Care Coordinator and the RN to get the care plan straightened out and they were wonderful, responding immediately.
First, Mom’s ankles were swollen, her hair was dirty and her head sounded very stuffy. I think her tinkering with the thermostat caused those issues and the maintenance man immediately put a lock box over it and adjusted the temperature to match that of the rest of the facility. We walked Mom around the square a few times and by the time we left the ankles were looking better. Meanwhile the nurse contacted the doctor about an antihistamine to clear up Mom’s head.
Second, Mom’s corn pad was missing from her foot so her toes were tender and that, along with the dirty hair, made me ask about her bathing routine and schedule. It seems there was miscommunication about the level of care needed but when I spoke to the H&W Director, she and the Care Coordinator immediately met about it and set it all to rights.
Life is good and eventually Mom will be happy!
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