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No matter what you do, expensive alarm systems, video monitoring of the front door, speaker boxes, what have you, those with evil intent can simply resort to social engineering, and our trusting parents think it really IS the gas man checking for leaks, and let him in.
Soozi, your mom seems like she was a smart and sassy lady! Cheers!
but there should be an alarm that unlocks doors,
in a fire, I do not believe there will be enough time.
Elderly people may be lonely, but opening a door to strangers,
is something that dementia people (like a reflex or jerk knee response) do because they are not sure and suddenly "do not" want to make a mistake.
Ours went from being leary of to hyper mode (O.C.D) to answer the door, this behavior went hand in hand, with answering the phone. She could not eat or stay asleep if someone called because she thought it was an emergency or would get it wrong. Sales people required me to come down, because once she answered the phone, she did not know what to do or say.
Her children used to try monitoring her dementia by phone, but because I was the upstairs neighbor, I was not allowed to shut off her phone, but I always wanted to.
She does live by me now, in a new apartment, where she has no desire to open the door or answer the phone.
Elizabeth
But now that we do not live in her building anymore,
she does not open the door here, because this is not her house.
If we had stayed, we were going to have a entry cover built for the front to cover the window so people could not knock from the porch. We also thought of disconnecting the doorbell.
People who needed to get in could go through the back door or could call before they came. All possible now because of cell phones.
Worrying is NOT the same as planning and taking preventive action. I have the opposite problem with my husband. He's likely to lock the door I left open when I went out without a key. So I guess I have to break down and carry a key.
She no longer has a normal land line for the phone because when we moved her into her small apt we added her to our cell service and she only has the cell phone now and that helps with unwanted calls but there is another problem. My mom has a computer and internet service and you get all kinds of trash via email and my mom will answer email and give out important information! I have been considering taking away her internet but I feel so guilty about it. She has so little to do anymore.
We also have an alarm on the house, with a "stay" setting, so if you don't disarm it and open the door it makes a hideous noise. I have a BIG note on the door to remind him to "turn off alarm." My husband doesn't know how to use the alarm and it scares him, but the note always makes him stop and ask if the alarm is on, if he wants to go outside.
One thing that helps me feel safe, when I have to open the door, is our heavy duty screen door with glass panels that can be slid up or down for air, but you can open the main door to see who, and yet it is still strong enough to stop an intruder. Maybe opening one door would be enough to satisfy the automatic urge to open a door, and they would stop at the second.
I accidently discovered another thing, when we recently installed a fence for our dog. He is never left out doors alone, but it seems that solisters see the fence and dog toys and are afraid that there is a dog out of sight that might be vicious, so they have started leaving their flyers in the gate. If you have a fence, then maybe a "beware of dog" sign.
These are things that work for now for us, but may not in the future as we travel this twisty road of dementia.
That should scare off the bad guys!
"Caregivers get helping hand from apps"
Health tools: From GPS devices and computer programs that track a wandering ALZ patient to iPad apps that help ...technology is giving an assist to harried familes."
It is an interesting article that may be of help to some of you.
for the issue of opening the door to strangers...with some tech support, you could probably mount a camera/monitor to capture the image and have it displayed through an app to identify the person knocking on the door
Following a burglary, police told me the best lock to get is the one that requires a key to open both on the outside and inside deadbolt. The danger is needing to get out yourself in case of emergency, which is why I slept with the key in the lock. However, if you have a situation with your patient/parent opening up to anyone, then you'd need to put the deadbolt up high enough to make it tough to reach easily. In any case, you would need a secondary escape route...back door? kitchen door? that did not have that sort of double keyed lock. Most scanners are going too come to the front door to try and get someone to open up for them (thinking of the fake florist scam, magazine scams, etc.) and not the back door.
If you have an emergency alert system, they can be informed about the lock and send EM folks to the secondary entrance.
Also, think about the good ole intercom system connected to the door bell (push to talk) and some cleaver person can use a recording machine to "answer" the door bell? (with wild dog barking in close proximity)
Just thinking!
Good luck!