Old Heating System - Elderly Relative with Dementia

Bicycle

Hi Guys,

I'd really appreciate some help please.

I have responsibility for an elderly relative who has a dementia. This relative is in their mid-late 80s and according to the medical specialists should be in a nursing home but we've kept them in their own home with the help of carers and thus they have a much better quality of life.

Unfortunately the heating system in the house started to give trouble and I finally got a plumber in today. The news, sadly, is not good. The pipes are gun-metal and he reckons the whole system needs to be replaced.

Cost is not an issue but level of disturbance is. The relative gets very stressed if anything is done with the house other than basic cleaning and housework. To get it into perspective, I recently had to sneak a man in (with the help of one of the carers) early one morning to replace the washing machine that had died because the relative didn't appreciate that the washing machine was irreparable or even that it was broken and they would have gone ballistic if they had known (they were reared in frugal times and most of the time, mentally, they return to those tough but happy times).

So, does anyone have suggestions as to what I can do? (I'm sighing loudly as I type...). This is almost a combination of medical and plumbing and I apologise if its not straight forward.

I need to keep the relative warm and safe (and temperatures are due to drop to frosty over the next few days). I really can't get the relative to stay somewhere else for a few days because the move would create huge confusion. And any disturbance in the house would create a huge amount of stress.

Thanks in advance.....

Buford T Justice

Hmmm, there isn't much you can do really I'm afraid unless you buy a few electric oil heaters. There will be a fairly big workload into the house whatever way you look at it. Is a holiday of some sorts a possiblity?

Bicycle

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Hmmm, there isn't much you can do really I'm afraid unless you buy a few electric oil heaters. There will be a fairly big workload into the house whatever way you look at it. Is a holiday of some sorts a possiblity?

Fingers, thanks.

Even getting a hair cut is a huge issue. We have to get someone in to do hair cuts as we can no longer get the relative to leave the house for a hair cut

Sighing again - oil heaters means more risk of a fire....

What about storage heaters? Are these easy to instal?

yoshytoshy

The most common thing to do is arrange for them to stay at someones house.

You don't necessarily have to tell them about the job.

Bicycle

yoshytoshy wrote: »

The most common thing to do is arrange for them to stay at someones house.

You don't necessarily have to tell them about the job.

Thanks.

I would do that if I could. But unfortunately because of the dementia, ANY change in their environment for even a short period of time means that they become more confused.

I really want to keep my relative at home for as long as possible. Because if they are moved out, the likelihood is that they won't return - which kind-of defeats the purpose of putting in the heating for obvious reasons.

They were in hospital a few years ago - the dementia wasn't as advanced then - and they caused a lot of problems for the nursing staff. At one stage they thought they were in a railway station having arrived after a long journey. They were stopping visitors and other patients and asking them to give them a lift home.... Once they returned home, it took a few weeks and some intensive caring to get them back to a functional state.

I'm not sure they'd recover this time, unfortunately.

yoshytoshy

All else I can think of is to get the job done to suit your needs. Maybe designate a room downstairs that you can stay in while the job is being done ,have someone stay with your realitive in the room for the duration.
Maybe buy them a set of headphones for the tv ,so they can't hear all the work going on in the house.

Then when that room needs to be worked in ,it's only a matter of a couple of hours.

I've done a lot of jobs for elderly people that have dimentia and alzeimers ,you should find an installer that will accomadate you the best.

Bicycle

Thanks Yoshi.

I didn't think of the room solution.

Your suggestions are very much appreciated....

Cheers.

Traditional

have you got a second opion on heating system , it may just need a powerflush an a new boiler , which would be very little disturbance , in and out in one day .