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Wandering & Pacing
Family spent $60,000 a year to keep Lucille home with caregiver, but she wandered and jumped the fence. She came to MVAC with her dog Tinker. She still looked for her mother everyday, but the 8’ fence provided safety while daily supervised walks and weekly outings provided freedom.
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Our Solution:
It’s important to balance safety vs. freedom. Physical and Chemical restraint is not the answer. |
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Combative & Agitation
Dorothy did not like someone giving her a bath, so she would scream, spit and scratch. Initially medication was prescribed to manage her behavior, but once caregiver learned how to give her shower, we managed her care without using any psychotropic medication.
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Our Solution:
Training in Alzheimer’s care and discussing among caregivers allowed them to find a solution to the problem behaviors. |
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Hallucination & Paranoia
Gus always talked about being in China or Australia, where he’s never been. He also talked about someone being in the front yard and killing his daughter or talk to the mirror in the bathroom, as if he is talking to his friend. Gus would hide his dentures in a safe place and could not find them, then he would blame that someone has took them.
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Our Solution:
Many of these behaviors were harmless and the caregiver addressed it by redirecting or validating his feeling. |
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Depression
Mike slept for 15 hours at SNF. Doctor told family
to find funeral home. His friends decided on
MVAC, the next 11/2 years he enjoyed parties,
shows, horse racing, lunches and dinners at
his favorite restaurants with family and friends.
Once he was comfortable, he laughed, joked
and thought he owned the facility, trying to
sell before he died.
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Our
Solution:
Activities & pleasant surrounding helped him overcome his depression in SNF
environment. |
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Frustration & Anger
The assisted living staff to help her mother with
bathing called Darlene’s daughter regularly.
Darlene would not allow staff to touch and
clean the feces from her body and hair. When
she came to MVGH her daughter never had to
come to help shower and she had her hair clean
and set regularly.
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Our
Solution:
Our caregivers have patience and are trained to deal with these behaviors. |
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Repetitive
Stories
Janet will repeatedly tell a story about her
brother. Other residents at assisted living were
ignoring her and labeling her as crazy. At MVAC
when she repeated, other residents did not remember
that she was repeating the story. When other
residents do not remember, no one is judging
her ability, so it provides a non-threatening
environment.
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Our
Solution:
Dementia only environment and trained staff foster true companionship and restores
self-confidence. |
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Not
Sleeping at Night
Thomas would nap during the daytime and would
not sleep at night. He was mixed up with day and
night, because he could not recognize the difference.
He would want to take a shower at 1 am and get
ready to go to work, asking for breakfast at 2
am.
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Our
Solution:
Participation in activities with their peers during the daytime stimulate their
mind and help them to sleep during the night. |
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Sundown
Syndrome
Gene will wait for her husband to come for dinner
because she forgets that her husband died a few
years ago. She would like to go home because her
kids are waiting for her. She does not remember
that they have grown up. She will say she is going
to see her mom, but her mom has died 30 years ago.
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Our
Solution:
Trained staff will validate her feelings, but redirect her to help her calm down. |
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Sexual
Inappropriate Behavior
Bill & Elizabeth believed they were high school
sweethearts and married. If you turned your back,
they both were in a bathroom or bedroom. Both of
their spouses disapproved. The decision was made
to separate them, moving one to another MVGH location,
instead of using psychotropic medication.
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Our
Solution:
Some of the sexual issues are either dealt with supervision, activity or psychotropic
medication. |
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Resisting
Personal Care
Clifford does not like anyone to touch him and
no one dares to force him. It took a few days before
we succeeded in giving him a shower. But that was
not acceptable when he would have accidents. We
initially used medication, but now chocolate candy
will allow us to give him a shower. We are getting
better by knowing cultural tradition and his habits.
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Our
Solution:
Understanding about his past and giving respect to him for his privacy and modesty
helped us to help him. |
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Not
Eating or Swallowing
Lester had lost 25 lbs within a month between hospital
and nursing home. Family did not want a feeding
tube, so he was moved to MVGH in Diamond Bar. We
fed him each meal & snack. It took about 1
hour every meal, but he gained 32 lbs in 2 1/2
months.
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Our
Solution:
Feeding may mean chopping, finger food, or pureeing
the food and hand feeding with encouragement. Sometime
it takes an hour each meal to feed but our staff
does it with patience.
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