By proceeding, I agree that I understand the following disclosures:
I. How We Work in Washington. Based on your preferences, we provide you with information about one or more of our contracted senior living providers ("Participating Communities") and provide your Senior Living Care Information to Participating Communities. The Participating Communities may contact you directly regarding their services. APFM does not endorse or recommend any provider. It is your sole responsibility to select the appropriate care for yourself or your loved one. We work with both you and the Participating Communities in your search. We do not permit our Advisors to have an ownership interest in Participating Communities.
II. How We Are Paid. We do not charge you any fee – we are paid by the Participating Communities. Some Participating Communities pay us a percentage of the first month's standard rate for the rent and care services you select. We invoice these fees after the senior moves in.
III. When We Tour. APFM tours certain Participating Communities in Washington (typically more in metropolitan areas than in rural areas.) During the 12 month period prior to December 31, 2017, we toured 86.2% of Participating Communities with capacity for 20 or more residents.
IV. No Obligation or Commitment. You have no obligation to use or to continue to use our services. Because you pay no fee to us, you will never need to ask for a refund.
V. Complaints. Please contact our Family Feedback Line at (866) 584-7340 or
[email protected] to report any complaint. Consumers have many avenues to address a dispute with any referral service company, including the right to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office at: Consumer Protection Division, 800 5th Avenue, Ste. 2000, Seattle, 98104 or 800-551-4636.
VI. No Waiver of Your Rights. APFM does not (and may not) require or even ask consumers seeking senior housing or care services in Washington State to sign waivers of liability for losses of personal property or injury or to sign waivers of any rights established under law.I agree that: A.I authorize A Place For Mom ("APFM") to collect certain personal and contact detail information, as well as relevant health care information about me or from me about the senior family member or relative I am assisting ("Senior Living Care Information"). B.APFM may provide information to me electronically. My electronic signature on agreements and documents has the same effect as if I signed them in ink. C.APFM may send all communications to me electronically via e-mail or by access to an APFM web site. D.If I want a paper copy, I can print a copy of the Disclosures or download the Disclosures for my records. E.This E-Sign Acknowledgement and Authorization applies to these Disclosures and all future Disclosures related to APFM's services, unless I revoke my authorization. You may revoke this authorization in writing at any time (except where we have already disclosed information before receiving your revocation.) This authorization will expire after one year. F.You consent to APFM's reaching out to you using a phone system than can auto-dial numbers (we miss rotary phones, too!), but this consent is not required to use our service.
*If I am consenting on behalf of someone else, I have the proper authorization to do so. By clicking Get My Results, you agree to our
Privacy Policy. You also consent to receive calls and texts, which may be autodialed, from us and our customer communities. Your consent is not a condition to using our service. Please visit our
Terms of Use. for information about our privacy practices.
Given the pandemic, most doctors are not seeing patients unless it's an emergency. If your mother's behavior reaches emergency, you may call 911 and have your mother Baker Acted, which is an involuntary hold for up to 72 hours during which time she will be medicated. That will also enable you to talk with the hospital case manager about placing your mother into an appropriate level of care upon discharge. I urge you to not allow discharge to home given that your father has dementia and cannot be charged with giving your mother medication.
Your father needs help at home. Start working with your local social service agency to learn about options and getting your father the help he needs.
Get MPOA & FPOA or Guardianship papers in order now! You need an Attorney for Elderly/Disabled!
Next, she is NOT candidate for AL. She needs a NH Specialized in Schizophrenia & Delusional Disorders.
Second- take advantage of this unique time to contact facilities. Get references, from MH Professionals. A few places have IL or AL for your Dad in the same building or complex.
You can't or should not move her until about 2-3 months after the COVID-19 crisis has cleared IMHO. But be first on the list. Also how facilities handle this crisis will tell you a lot. Drive by and talk to families visiting from the outside! That is best information.
Third- Does your area have Emergency Response Team for MH Crisis. Get that #, Give it to your Dad. Then trained Professionals can help de-escalate the issue.
Fourth: Do use mask or scarf & other precautions when you shop for you parents. Leave it on the porch, if they have one, & stay till they confirm perishables are put away. Maintain 6-12 distance for their protection.
Fifth: Anything that needs to be closer than that needs to be people trained to do so. Make sure they are trained for severe MH issues.
I have worked in hospitals & MH. I hope this helps.
The first thing is she needs to be seen by a doctor that can prescribe medication so that she is not abusive. This will make it easier on dad as well as easier to find a facility that will accept her.
Since your dad is also showing signs of dementia AND he does not want to place her would he also be willing to move to AL? He would then have help when he needs it. He could get a break with different activities. When and if mom gets to the point where she needs Memory Care the transition for both of them would be easier.
Adjustment will likely be difficult, but truth is, most are, and ultimately, it’s often the POA that suffers more than the newly placed resident.
You are Blessed with siblings who are observing the signs that potentially BOTH of your parents may be needing residential care, so don’t allow yourself to feel as though you’ve been chosen for an assignment you can't handle, because the odds are also in your favor that you can.
If your father wants to continue to oversee your mother’s care he may be able to enter a continuing care facility where he can have some space for himself while continuing to monitor her life style.
Start today doing an online search of the residential facilities within a 25 mile range of where they’re living now. Because of Covid-19, you’ll be doing cyber visits for now, but you’ll have a fund of knowledge for when the stay-in-place bans are lifted.
The actual placement may be somewhat simpler for your mom, or for both of them, based on how easily they’ve tolerated their recent move.
Most have us here have made decisions similar to yours. Trust yourself. If you are looking to make you mom (and/or dad) SAFE, PHYSICALLY COMFORTABLE, and RESPECTED AS A HUMAN BEING, you’re on the right track.
1 - What are each of your parent's needs that are not being met or threatened with not being met?
2 - What are the resources available to take care of these needs? Spends lots of time researching and finding all options available.
3 - Why am I finding this difficult or distasteful? Feel overwhelmed? Fear mom's wrath? Difficult to communicate? Difficult for your parents to understand? Past history?
4 - Who has responsibility for taking care of these issues? Are there POAs or guardianship legally in place? If not, can you get them done now (talk to doctor about mental competence and then a lawyer)? Give over pieces to the person responsible for deciding. If it is you, communicate with others who are "stakeholders" in the decisions: your parents, family members, doctors...
Praying for you to make decisions that not only provide care for your parents but peace of mind for the entire family, especially you.
Adult Protective Services should be notified that she is a vulnerable adult. She needs to be in in-patient psychiatric care so that a proper medication regimen can be found. THEN you can figure out what her need for care is.
"Dad, in order to get mom the care she needs, we need to leave her on her own."
in circumstances where they needed a break. I feel for you, I know their challenges. And I had my own anxiety and depression to deal with as well. Make sure you have a good counselor that can help you get the self care you need. I think we all need a good counselor! I think you have some good suggestions from people here, and getting as much info as you can to begin with will be helpful in the long run. We just had my husbands mom move in with us. That situation is very easy compared to yours. Keep a prayer in your heart for yourself and for her. I just watched to some really good videos on You Tube by a gal who is a specialist on dementia. The information she gave was helpful and reinforced my commitment to help Mominlaw be comfortable. But she’s really easy to take care of and she and I have always had a wonderful relationship. Teepa Snow - Dementia 101. I know that dementia is NOT the same as schizophrenia. Nowhere near the same. My brothers medications made it so he was relatively calm. He had his times, and when he got UTIs, everything was exacerbated. And he was delusional and unreasonable. He spent his last few years of life in and out of the hospital because of UTIs and other health problems. He passed away this last September. I hope you are able to find resources for your Mom and Dad as well as yourself. You are in my prayers.
Obviously, your mom needs psychiatric help and the appropriate treatment. I sincerely hope that you are able to find a suitable place for her to be placed.
Let us know how you are doing. Vent anytime to voice any concerns that you have or just to blow off some steam.
My mom has the same diagnosis for the last 20 years. It stared when I was heading to high school. She lives in an assisted living facility because I have a family and need to work. It was too difficult with her staying in my home. Now I have the peace of mind that she is taking her medications regularly and being fed,etc. When she lived on her own in another state; she was afraid to go to the grocery store and things like that. Also nervous that someone was poisoning her. I know it’s a progressive illness; Its very difficult to take care of someone who is also low income. However, I was able to find some additional benefits to get her into an assisted living. My prayers are with you; it’s definitely not an easy job to oversee her care. She complains about everything, but I know it’s because she is not satisfied with her life and decisions that she made previously. Also being low income bothers her because she always talks about going back to nursing although she lost her license years ago. She is 61! I also made sure she was set up for a counseling group where a outside psychiatrist could manage her psych medications and make sure the assisted living facility had her psych meds and her primary care managed her other medications. It’s important for people with this mental illness to have a schedule and routine to create a structured environment, and have their medication managed! She attends 2-3 times per week.
See All Answers