At the end of October 2020 my aunt went into long term care. At that time of admission I brought her suitcase and duffle bag with clothing and a plastic bag with pillows and a throw for her. Since then I brought two more bags of clothing for her with her name on AND in the bags as directed. In chatting with her recently I found out and confirmed with a staff member that she has hardly any clothing! Her closet should be full with tops and pants and her drawers full with pjs, socks, and underwear. Due to the covid lockdown I had to leave everything with the front desk staff to put in quarantine for 24 hours, and it looks like her belongings never got to her. The staff is trying to track the bags down. However if nothing turns up, is the facility responsible for replacing everything? My dad was in the same facility a few years ago, and there were just a few issues.
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In the beginning of Moms stay, I took her clothes home to wash. There was a sign on her closet that said "Family doing Laundry". I found that the residents clothes were very clean and smell free. I wanted to go on vacation so I switched over to their laundry. Yes, started missing clothes. I found some in her roommates closet. Others I had to track. I had taken a picture of everything I took in. So when I was missing something, I showed the laundress the picture and the item showed up. So, I would call and talk to the Laundress and see if she has any clothing with no name in it. Also ask her what the laundry cycle is. My Moms facility washed every day so cycle was the laundry came back every 3 days. Some may wash certain rooms once a week, lets say. By knowing this, then you know how many outfits to leave. For my Mom it was 7 outfits. 7 tops, 7 pants, 7 bras, ect. I only brought seasonal clothing. I left a couple of pairs of shoes but she would have been OK with one pair. The aides never changed her shoes. You need to put her name on anything you take in. Don't take anything that u are afraid could get stolen. Like a favorite necklace or broach that is worth something. Not saying that the staff steals but other residents may. Take pictures of her glasses if she wears them. My Moms got mixed up with another residents. The picture helped find them. I would say do this with hearing aides too.
That's BRILLIANT. I'm going to remember this for when we have to place MIL. She loses her own clothes in her own house where she is totally alone and swears someone is stealing them. I can't imagine how awful a NH is going to be for her.