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.
I hope you have his POA because that will help you to place him.
We all think of moving a sick person out of the home as a big decision. It is. But in another sense, it isn't. Once their illness as caused them to cross a line, which it appears that your husband has, they must go somewhere else. Demanding and uncooperative is one of those lines. Fecal incontinence is another. The possibility of a demented person causing physical harm is another. Wandering is another. Etc. etc.
Right now, start looking at likely places for him to go. Then make sure he gets there. Your husband, being demanding and uncooperative, may be a worst-case scenario in terms of putting up a fight to stay home where he can badger and exhaust you even more. Stay strong and save yourself. I wish you luck in this unfortunate situation.
In terms of ‘demanding and unco-operative’, it’s worth reconsidering how you are dealing with that. If you comply with the demands and plead for co-operation, you are probably making the behaviors worse – because he gets what he wants and feels in control. It makes ‘home care’ far and away his most attractive option. If you can harden your heart and ignore it, he may be less keen to stay at home. Drop down your ‘help’, and talk up the benefits of care – lots of staff to give him attention, activities organised just for him etc etc. Ear plugs may help you walk away from the demands. Telling him how hard it is for YOU is not likely to make any difference.
Of course there is a cost involved, but if money is an issue, they do offer financial assistance.
And I can only guess that just like a child, your husband will be much better behaved for others than he is for you.
Otherwise you can hire aides to come sit with him for a few hours a few times a week. Or you can call your local Senior Services or your church to see if they have volunteers that can come sit with him so you can get out for a few hours to do things you enjoy.
And of course if his care is getting to be just too much for you, you may have to start looking into placing him in the appropriate facility.
Remember that you matter in this equation as well.
My plan is to keep her home until the very end, which might not be possible if she were bigger than me, if for no other reason than to help transport her.
I try to imagine what it is like being in her mind, not knowing where I am most of the time, and being very scared. But yes, I make all her decisions and had the legal documents completed while she could still sign them.
She has lived here 50 years but constantly wants to go home. She lives with a lot of pain from her back surgery for scoliosis and the pain many feel from Parkinson's, and when she wants to go home it is often to escape the pain.
This care-giving stuff isn't for sissies, for sure. (I refuse to use the new woke term, care-partners.)
My husband with dementia qualified for hospice here at home. They have a nurse once per wk to check vitals. They have a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) come 6 days per wk for bath, hair washing, bed changing. Then if you could hire someone 4-5 hrs per wk (or more depending on your finances) it would really take some weight off you. They do have some caregiver grants to offset cost of hired help…it varies by state, so again Area on Agnecy can help you apply for grants.
When my husband got to the stage when he would leave the house to take a walk, I realized he could in fact get killed by an oncoming car.
We lived a block or so away from a well traveled city street with traffic lights. I followed him one day and found he did not give the right away by foot to oncoming traffic. He could have been KILLED. That was the trigger that I knew he had to be placed in memory care. He started to leave the apartment/house several times a day, we lived just a few feet from a busy state road, well traveled, all day long, and again during morning and evening rush hours of people going to and from work in their autos. Only a few feet from this busy road. I wondered what I would do if he got killed trying to take HIS right away on foot to cross the street.
I also knew that if anything happened to him in this way, the authorities could hold ME responsible for his well being. What would the State do to me? Believe me, a caregiver cannot keep two eyes on a demented person who leaves the house or apartment.
THAT WAS MY FIRST CLUE THAT I MUST LOOK INTO IMMEDIATE PLACEMENT IN A FACILITY WHERE HE WOULD BE SAFE. OH, YES, IT IS EXPENSIVE. BUT, I did it. So can you . Think in terms of What If---. I would have on coming car, OR got accosted by someone wanting his money. I made sure he only had $1.00 in his pocket and his name and address in his pocket.
BE STRONG, PEOPLE. THINK OF THE WHAT IF.
You did the right thing. You loved your hsuband and wanted to keep him safe. The only way that could happen was if he was in a care facility.
Whether he is cooperative or not really isn't important if he has dementia and is no longer caring for himself or mentally able to make decisions on his own.
You are the important one in this equasion because if something happens to you, what happens to him?
He gets permanently placed in a nursing home for the rest of his life whether he's cooperative or not.
You need a rest from him. Please contact Medicare and ask if he qualifies for a respite stay in a nursing home. Then while he's there, you can take a break and take time to think things over like whether or not you want to continue being his caregiver and having him home.
If you want to keep him home and continue caregiving, check out adult daycare for him and also homecare to help you. No one should have to handle all the caregiving for a person with Parkinson's and dementia all on their own.