Residential Care for parent with Alaheimer's

Queen Bea

My mum has Alzheimer's for about 10 years. My dad was her primary carer. About the beginning of Feb this year her condition deteriorated. So now she is in residential care in a nursing home. Some of the family went to visit her on Easter Sunday and she was very drowsy. We were wondering whether or not she had been sedated for the convenience of the staff in the nursing home.
Within a week she went from being able to go to the toilet with some assistance to using a commode.
She has been isolated from the other patients, she spends her time alone in her room. Sometimes she listens to CDs. We were told that she got very aggressive with other patients so they have to isolate her. On the up side she is not confined to bed but can sit in a chair.
Has anybody had similar experiences?

mattjack

Queen Bea wrote: »

My mum has Alzheimer's for about 10 years. My dad was her primary carer. About the beginning of Feb this year her condition deteriorated. So now she is in residential care in a nursing home. Some of the family went to visit her on Easter Sunday and she was very drowsy. We were wondering whether or not she had been sedated for the convenience of the staff in the nursing home.
Within a week she went from being able to go to the toilet with some assistance to using a commode.
She has been isolated from the other patients, she spends her time alone in her room. Sometimes she listens to CDs. We were told that she got very aggressive with other patients so they have to isolate her. On the up side she is not confined to bed but can sit in a chair.
Has anybody had similar experiences?

Hi ,

I have a parent in care with a similar condition to Alzhiemers , from time to time with our agreement he spends time in his room to give him a rest and allow him some privacy.He has a special chair called a Buxton chair for his safety.

Regarding being sedated you should able to ask to see what medication your mum is on, you might be able to find out does it cause drowsiness..We have our parent in under the Fair Deal scheme and are invoiced each month so we can see what medication he takes too.I've google it and asked in a chemist out of nosiness what each medication is.
We also know his sleep pattern isn't great , sometimes he's sleepy during the day after being awake at night and other times vice versa.

donalh087

Very rough guys. I sympathise, but i wonder if you have mistaken the forum?

mattjack

donalh087 wrote: »

Very rough guys. I sympathise, but i wonder if you have mistaken the forum?

i shoulda looked more thanks donal

pickarooney

Moved from Creative Writing to Long Term Illness

Queen Bea

I'm new here so just trying to find my feet. Was looking through the CW forum. Takes a while to get the hang of this.:(

Scruffles

staff in residential care are not allowed to make the choice to sedate residents,and every medication dose given has to be recorded on MAR sheets-so it is all traceable; most residential care places still prefer doing things on paper for this very reason/a safe paper trail.
the only people who can make the decision to have a resident given any medication is:
#the individual plus their doctor/specialist and anyone else they may want involved.
#the doctor/specialist can make a 'best interest' decision on behalf if the resident is classed as having limited mental capacity to understand,but usualy there will also be the residents power of attorney or a close advocate involved to get the person the most balanced decision,however am not sure as am only knowledgeable of young peoples residential care not elderly.

an aunt of mine in cork works in a big [ninety residents] residential home for elderly people many with challenging alzheimers or dementia-irish residential care is very strict in how homes are run.
however that isnt to say problems dont happen, there are some incredibly delusional people who try to cover their eyes and ears when it comes to the care and safeguarding of vulnerable adults in care,have personaly experienced serious agression at a time was looking for support with past residential care abuse have suffered,because the forum users had seen one good residential home and think theyre all like that.

is there no quality board/organisation for keeping up the standards of care in ireland? over here we have CQC and family/residents etc can 'whistle blow' on residential homes if there is anything suspicious going on.
have had a google but cant seem to find any.

nb.
am a resident of residential care though a different age group [twenty nine] and over a decade have lived in many different institutions and centres.

Queen Bea

Thanks for your comment. Logic prevailed and I realised that my mum's condition had deteriorated since the end of Jan this year. My dad was her primary carer. She went to respite and he had a heart attack on a bus. He never regained consciousness and died 6 days later.:(

They were married 54 years and he probably just couldn't go on without her at home. Even if she had changed there was some of her there. We went to see her the day after dad died, Mother's Day but thought it too cruel to tell her.

The social worker & staff kept asking if we told her about dad. I told her dad had gone to heaven to take care of my brother who died 3 yrs ago. The same night she was shouting out his name & was really upset. They got the dr to change her meds.She talks mostly to herself and some days she is drowsy.

I was researching private nursing homes in Dublin one one closed down because they breached regulations. Getting enough money €860 a week!
I hope you are coping with your situation. Feel free to tell me. Not being nosey. It's a relief to share with others.