Falling out of bed in a memory care facility

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.

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.

Oh man. No one uses common sense anymore. A puffy things that looks similar to a pillow to be called "restraint"? Hard to believe. And YES!! I'm remembering that when family started putting in motion detection in their loved one's rooms, you should have heard the 'ding dings' at their attendant's station! Something like that may help and at least get someone to go in and look. You can buy pads for the floor that set off an audible signal if they put their feet down. Maybe that would help? It's not an easy problem. Let us all know what the director says!! Virginia

@fwenty I just came across your posting mentioning falling out of bed. Unfortunately, the facility is correct. Almost all preventative measures are considered restraints. As a nurse in a hospital (before I retired), we spent MORE time trying to keep out patients safe while following all the rules. Usually we ended up having an aide sit with the patient the whole shift. The patient stayed safe, but we had to work short staffed the whole shift.
On a better note, there are now products that help keep patients safe. This website shows the Your wife will slowly become accustomed to the single bed. ( the web site was wrong so I have to fix it!)

Found it! Bedside-fall-protection-mat:
https://www.vitalitymedical.com/tri-fold-bedside-fall-protection-mat.html

Thanks, Becky. I looked at the web site and that looks really good. It would be easy for the med techs to put in place and to move in the morning. I bought a Drive wheelchair locally and I bet that medical supply store might have these mats. I'll call them tomorrow and see.
The facility director and I didn't connect today so I'll check with her on Monday. By the way, my wife didn't fall out of bed last night, so we've got that going for us!

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.

Correction: Seems like a lot of states have this inhumane law that you can NOT constrain someone.

Can you have a hospital bed placed in there so there are rails preventing her from falling out?

I’ve been told that you can’t because it might create anxiety.