What Items Are Kept Under Lock & Key In A Memory Care Community?
Youâve spent years caregiving, you added in home care and then you decided it was time for a memory care community. You researched, maybe had some help, toured a few places and chose one. You moved your dad in and then one day you couldnât find his lotion. In this post we are exploring whatâs locked up.
This is something that can be really hard to get used to. In fact one of my guests on my podcast episode 46 talks about how frustrating this was. Every time she wanted to put lotion in her dadâs arms or help him brush his teeth⊠everything was locked up.
In this episode Iâm going to discuss why things are locked up, your part in this practice and what you might expect when you need a locked up item.
First and most important letâs explore the why. Many times those with Alzheimerâs and Dementia lose their ability to correctly identify products. Jodi,who I worked with and whose story youâll find in podcast episode 45, recounted some of the signs that their momâs Alzheimerâs had advanced. Her mom loved her coffee with creamer but instead of using the coffee creamer she kept putting ranch dressing in her coffee. Both containers looked the same.
One of my good friends and someone you should definitely follow, Dementia Darling, has an Instagram post where she squirts out a nice big amount of sweet smelling lotion in her hands and says⊠ooh! This smells great and it looks like frosting! Yum!
Well yuck to us! But to your loved one with Alzheimerâs or another form of Dementia⊠they may have lost the ability to know the difference.
And this is why⊠memory care communities and adult families homes in most states are required to not only to lock up your loved oneâs medications but also their toiletries and the building’s cleaning supplies and where theyâre available to residents, youâll even find the refrigerator is under lock and key.
So what does this mean for you?
There are actually two really important points here that many families donât realize and the first one is that like I mentioned earlier⊠You may be thinking⊠My mom always has her lotion by her bedside table. This is something we do every night⊠I get her lotion and she loves when I massage her arms and handsâŠ.but in most states this routine will have to change.
But letâs take this a little furtherâŠ. one day you walk into her room and youâre likeâŠwhereâd her lotion go because you had put it there on move in day. So you run to the store and bring back her favorite lotion⊠you go through your relaxing massage and you leave the lotion on her bedside table where itâs always been and then you leave.
In that moment without realizing it you may have unknowingly put your mom at risk, other residents at risk and in some states even the community at risk for getting a citation.
Now this doesnât mean you canât bring your momâs favorite lotion and it doesnât mean you can’t continue your lotion massage routine what it means is that youâll label the lotion, give that lotion to a staff member to lock up and when you want to use it again you may have to track down a staff member and you may have to wait. This is why the guest that I mentioned from our podcast episode 46 was so frustrated! It sometimes took a while before getting the items she needed.
And this applies to anything that could be eatenâŠincluding vitamins, tums andâŠeven flowers and plants.You want to make sure theyâre edible before bringing them in. Oh and donât bring breakable containersâŠJust in case!
The lock up list is actually something that shouldâve been communicated with you during the paperwork or move in process and probably was but the move in process can be really overwhelming! So hopefully this blog post helps make your journey a little more doable.
If youâd like to check out our blog post in podcast form, be sure to take a listen HERE!
Click HERE for our Doable Download, which provides the resources referenced in the post.
