Lock it or lose it!

In keeping with the theme of prevention of abuse something that families can do to curb financial exploitation of a resident being moved to an assisted living center is to purchase and install a lockable cabinet for valuables and money before they move in. Most assisted living centers do not have lockable storage in the apartments. The container needs to be bolted to a drawer in a dresser or to a cabinet. There should be two keys, one for the resident and one for a family member. Keep a record of items and dates when things are put in and taken out of the locked valuables box. I have numerous examples where money, jewelry, and valuables have been taken from residents. Seldom are the valuables recovered. Most facilities reveal in their resident handbook or facility rules book that they are not responsible for valuables that disappear. The best plan is to prevent theft before it happens. The turnover as a whole is high in assisted living centers and boarding homes. Although facilities are required to complete background checks on all persons having unsupervised access to residents, this does not prevent theft. If theft does occur report it immediately to the administrator of the building, not anyone else. The administrator is responsible to conduct an investigation and put policies in place to see that theft does not occur. Also, for the state of Washington the Complaint Resolution Unit (CRU) is supposed to receive a report about the allegation of theft from the facility.

On the front page of our town newspaper was an article about a gentleman being evicted from his home at an assisted living center. It is beyond my ability to understand how a corporation can take money from an individual for 3 years or more, tell them "not to worry they will be taken care of," get the business up and running, pay for the building and then after they take all the resident's money then up and say we don't take anymore state assisted clients you have to move. The lobbyists for the Assisted Living are so strong in the capital that whatever laws get passed they have worked them around so the Assisted Living contingent can get what they want and the residents are the ones that suffer. We've seen this happen all over Washington State. Moving is so traumatic often times the move literally kills the resident.

July Adult Abuse Prevention

July is Washington State Adult Abuse Prevention Month and I would like to share some bits of information with you. Did you know that

* a person turns 60 every 7.5 seconds,

* Statistics show that only 1 in 5 cases of abuse of a vulnerable adult are reported to authorities;

* Studies show that 90% of individuals with a developmental disability experience abuse at some point in their lives;

* Abusers are usually those closest to the vulnerable adult such as a caregiver a spouse or an adult child or grandchild;You can go to the Washington State website at www.adsa.dshs.wa.gov for more information.

Examples of abuse

The last entry defined the vulnerable adult and listed types of abuse. Some types of abuse can be overlooked if one is not a tuned to a situation. For example an elderly mother living with her son and daughter-in-law in the same townhouse was infested with mice. The son and daughter-in-law failed to make getting rid of the mice a priority, even though they were living in the same townhouse. The son and daughter-in-law were negligent in providing an adequate environment for the mother, who was paying rent to live with them, because she was no longer able to live alone due to dementia. Another example is a situation in which a niece says to her aunt "If you don't give me money for gas I can't come and see you". This same niece was coercing her aunt into giving her money for a professional license when the niece had not worked in that profession for the last 5 years. The niece was financially exploiting the aunt. It is difficult to say to family members of individuals who are being taken advantage of that what they are doing is abuse. However if someone does not speak up the situations can escalate.

Happy Fathers Day!

Many times when I have interviewed a geriatric client they have reminded me of my father or grandfather. I know my father and grandfather would be pleased to know they are remembered everyday. If you have parents still alive cherish the time you have with them because they will not always be with you. My father and grandfather were taken from me within six weeks of one another in 1984. That was one of the darkest years I ever experienced. I try to remember things they shared with me. My grandfather said more than once "You can't put a young head on old shoulders" and my Dad always said "Live within your means". Enjoy this Father's day and celebrate the special people in your life.

Always a Nurse

An interesting occurrence happened this evening about 5 pm a car stopped in front of our driveway and the passenger door opened. An elderly lady leaned her head over and proceeded to be sick. When I realized what was happening I picked up a towel damped it and took the towel out to her. I asked if she was having any chest pain and she replied no, she was just sick to her stomach. She said she had eaten some ice cream and thought that is what had made her sick. The driver appeared to be middle aged, maybe her daughter. After the lady seemed to be back in control she took the towel, wiped her face and thanked me for my kindness. I felt concerned for her. The contents on the drive appeared to have more than just ice cream and I was concerned she had gotten a hold of some contaminated tomatoes. However I didn't think to ask her if she had eaten any tomatoes. I hope she will be ok.

Incompatible Medications

This week in reviewing resident charts discovered a problem with elevated INR results due to coumadin for three of the residents we were reviewing. Modern pharmaceuticals are phenomenal however they also bring risks. To keep a resident safe it is everyone’s responsibility to be vigilant to the potential untoward effects. The residents INRs were above therapeutic ranges measuring from 2.3 up to 9. In researching possible causes learned that simivastatin can increase results of an INR. Two of the three clients were taking simivastatin. When developing a care plan there should be directions for teaching the resident what signs to watch for and report to the nurse, directions should include indications for which caregivers should be alert and when the resident should be seen by the doctor or sent to the hospital.