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Falling out of bed in a memory care facility
Caregivers: Dementia | Last Active: Oct 3, 2020 | Replies (17)Comment receiving replies
Hi FWW. My name is Virginia Naeve and I try to be helpful on these kinds of issues when I can. I remember when my mom, who suffered from Alzheimer's, was in a memory care and she fell out of bed and broke her arm. I was horrified and very sad. The facility told me that it wasn't legal in the state of California to have guard rails on her bed. I thought that was ridiculous. While we had the problem, we put soft blankets on the floor beside her bed and made sure the other side of the bed was against the wall. Eventually, she stopped falling out of bed.
I just saw something on line that I thought you might want to look in to. Look up Rehabmart.com. Search for Posey Patient Safety Roll Guard. It's a soft, pillow roll for the sides of the bed. I thought you could ask your mom's facility if they would allow that. Tell them that it's better than her breaking her arm! Good luck and tell us what they say! Virginia Naeve, http://www.anewpathformom.com.
Replies to "Hi FWW. My name is Virginia Naeve and I try to be helpful on these kinds..."
My Mom was in memory care and broke her hip getting out of bed. It was the second occurrence of breaking a hip about a year apart. She died in tremendous pain after a few days from the second fall. I was incensed and couldn’t believe they could allow it to happen a second time. Why do we allow these politicians to make laws for something that should be a family decision, especially for someone that can be a danger to themselves? What’s worse, possibly creating some anxiety for the loved one, or having them fall and break bones and die?
Seems like a lot of states have this inhumane law that you can constrain someone. Very sad.
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Hi Virginia. Thanks for the idea. I've looked at it and I think it would work well for me if Judy was still at home. But I think the facility director would consider it a restraint. At home I put a simple chair with it's back up by the bed edge near her elbow/waist area and the director said that was a restraint. She should call me later today so maybe we can work out some other ideas.
Like you did, we have one side of the bed next to the wall. You also had another idea with soft blankets on the floor. That's something like my daughter's idea of a mattress in the "landing area". Right now I'm thinking that if the facility can set up a motion detection system to alert the staff to Judy's movements, even if she moves out of bed they will quickly find her on the mattress.
Thanks again for your thoughtful response.