Yesterday afternoon I visited a 91- year- old friend at one of Nashville's most upscale, prestigious  nursing homes.

I was shocked to hear her tell the story of being traumatized by an Alzheimer's patient.

A man from across the hall would wander into her room, search through her things, and try to make her hold the water pitcher.

My friend is bedridden and very weak and cannot hold the pitcher.

She complained about him to the staff but  it took two months for the problem to be solved.  Meanwhile she was very scared of him.

The man also frightened other nursing home residents on a daily basis.

One solution the home came up with was to tack up orange mesh in front the  door. 

It is generally believed Alzheimer's patients will not cross this orange mesh. 

That turned out to be true, but they put it over my friend's door.

At lease one of her regular visitors was afraid to go in, not because of Alzheimer's, but because the person thought  it meant she was contagious.

In hearing her story we thought this matter should have been cleared up much sooner than it was.

The man was finally admitted to the Alzheimer's section of the home.  His family had not wanted to put  him there before they had to, or that was the rumor going around.

Our question is why did it take so long and why was it politically correct to respect the man's family's wishes and not those of the other  nursing home residents?

This incident  shows some of the problems helpless elderly people have to deal with when they don't have advocates. 

Popularity: 5% [?]

• Alzheimer's Risk Gene in Families An Alzheimer's risk gene runs in families, according to Dr. Sudha  Seshadri of the Boston University School of Medicine. But that doesn't mean you will get it if you have this gene. ApoE4 is the Alzheimer's gene and about 20 to 25 percent of the population carries it. But Dr. Seshadri......
• Nursing Home Visit Complete With Lindbergh Story, Visiting Baby Burros and a Tornado Warning Is Anything But Dull How could I have ever thought a nursing home visit could be dull? Yesterday My 82-year old Dad and I visited a nursing home in Brentwood, Tennessee. I had no idea it would become an adventure. We were visiting a 97-year old lady who told us a childhood story of......
• The Rewards of Alzheimer's Caregiving Cindi Antone writes about her experiences as a caregiver for her Mom who is suffering from Alzheimer's. The work is hard, often frustrating, but immensely rewarding, according to Cindi. Cindi believes as I do that nursing homes should be the absolute last option for Alzheimer's patients. Keeping them in their......
• Should Nanny Cams Be Put in Nursing Home Rooms? Would Nanny Cams in nursing home rooms help stop elder abuse and neglect? I wrote about this yesterday on our new social site, Aging Parents Authority Community. This new community is an active place for our new forum where we can really talk about those issues that we think......
• Infant Oral Health Care Maintaining Your Baby’s Health Care At HomeCongratulations on your new bundle of joy! You have probably counted all of your baby’s fingers and toes, gazed into his or her freshly opened eyes, and just smiled for hours at this beautiful new creation. At the hospital, there is always someone there......

• what my grandparents taught me about money Most of my relatives have divergent ideas about money and its place in our lives.  By relatives I’m including the wide range from my wife to my parents to my in-laws, etc. I realized a long time ago that it is a trivial undertaking to pick out the flaws......
• Nicholas Winton, an admirable man In the presence of good Nicholas Winton, now 100 years old, was a 29 year old London stockbroker who traveled to Czechoslovakia in 1938, where he rescued hundreds of Jewish children from likely or certain death. Winton's parents were of German Jewish descent. Even his wife didn't know about it......
• Kitchen Worktops Cabinets And Doors - What Works Best? A new dream kitchen is undoubtedly the social centre of domestic family happiness and a careful choice of flooring (either real wood or Lino), cabinets and laminate kitchen worktops blend to make that special mixture that puts your own personal and unique stamp on your kitchens design.Kitchen cabinets are made......
• Credit Card Debt Consolidation Options Credit cards have been up to some nasty tricks lately.  They are raising interest rates with only a subtle notice, and cutting credit lines with no notice.  Angry consumers are looking for ways to consolidate their debt.  I have had some first-hand experience with both scenarios, which led to me......
• Review: Green Design: A Healthy Home Handbook by Alan Berman This latest book by author and architect Alan Berman is written with environmental sustainability in mind. In his book, Berman describes various ways to make the reader's home a more environmentally friendly place to live. The book is teeming with diagrams, simple charts and photographs, enabling users at any level......