Is it considered a restraint? It's a bit difficult to figure out how bad my Dad's dementia is yet, but he is certainly unable or unwilling to remember to use his walker, and hence at a constant risk of falling. (He came home after a broken hip, and fell within three days.) Nor will he ask for help. So anytime we or caregiver look away or walk into other room he might stand up and fall.
At this pt. he's still in a rehabilitation place since his last fall, so we're just beginning to explore. We hope to bring him home next Sat because he is miserable there and will talk/yell about little else, and they say he's not making progress and has to be moved one way or another. From what I've read bed and chair alarms often don't ring in time unless one is feet away; some nursing homes call them "fall alarms" because they mainly serve to warn a fall is about to happen. I have volunteered to go 300 miles away to try to watch him most of the time, with some spells from other caregivers, but I'm worried about responsibility for him falling.
His whole life he has been stubborn and ornery, and rarely listened to anyone. (We may also have a problem keeping people since he has always unpredictably erupted and screamed at people, and its been worse since he can't hear well and misinterprets even in his quite together moments.) I am not exagerating, he is notorious in our town. Even though he is an extremely intelligent scientist/engineer we couldn't teach him to use a cell phone long before he had any dementia. He refused to focus, and has never cared if he did something dangerous that scared his family. We're talking about a person who has never been compliant about anything, for anyone. I just don't see how he'll be safe if I go let the dog out, use the bathroom, or take my mother a sandwich. The lift's with a track system would at least let him move around safely if I had to momentarily turn my back.
For now my mother is there and very on-the-ball, but she's got half a leg, and can't help him walk. So really all she can do is yell for someone else. He's quite prob even less likely to listen to her than others.
What would you suggest?
I'm going to suggest you use the search box, type in "prevent falls", as any advice I have for you I would have learned from others on this site. Hopefully some others will chime in with their advice also.
You didn't seriously, honestly now, think that would be acceptable, did you?
It isn't that I don't sympathise. Goodness, what I would have given at times for a non-punitive way of tying my mother to her chair...
One borderline legal/ethical technique would be to get your father an over-chair table that he can't easily move out of the way when he wants to get up, so that he has to call for assistance. But even that is not okay for any length of time - make it too effective, and you are imposing a "Deprivation of Liberty" on your loved one which can get you into serious trouble. I also placed my mother's walking frame so that she had to either go round it or use it, which gave me a tiny bit of extra time to get there when the pressure alarm went off.
In the end, you have two unattractive choices: supervise him constantly, or accept the falls risk having minimised it as much as you possibly can. I did say they were unattractive.
Frankly, I would arrange for a long term care facility. This does not sound like an undertaking for amateurs.
My Dad didn't use his walker much until I bought him a rolling walker [4 wheels, hand brake, seat, basket]... he loved it, thus would use it more. To him it was the best thing since slice bread... my Dad was also an engineer, and inventor. If he was younger, he'd probably invent something to make life easier for elders.
Now mind you, occasionally Dad would forget to use his walker, it is just something elder will do. And there is no way for caregivers to be glued to the hip to make sure they don't fall. Just hope it is a soft landing.
A family member is quite connected to the best doctors in Boston. He's been seen by very good doctors, including geriatric. However he himself has always hated almost all doctors, and won't listen. So we can only implement things that don't require his participation or consent.
Yes, it is quite clear he has various psychiatric issues, but that doesn't help keep him from falling. Anti-depressants (after he got to a point where he wasn't clear on what pills he was taking) have been a great help. The reputable rehabilitation place he's in he now also gives some kind of anti-anxiety medication, but it can make a person who was vibrant seem like a blob, which can seem worse to us than an !@#$%^&.
If your dad is a blob, then talk to the docs about titrating the meds. It CAN be done.
NEVER leave a patient UNATTENDED in a hoist lift.
And of course (before anyone asks) he was fitted with excellent hearing aids years ago. No one could convince him to wear them. Before any dementia. (It was a major "success" to even get him into see hearing guy at all.)
Are you serious about doing this or is it an idea of yours that you would want to implement to prevent a fall?
In my opinion he needs 24/7 care and observation- whether he gets it at home with private pay or at a SNF. I don't feel putting someone in the situation you have described is reasonable for his freedom and well being. The idea of a chair with a table is better than this.