Keeping the resident's personal items safe.
Sound familiar? It's an ongoing battle recovering residents' missing personal items on a memory care floor. Especially those important items that are needed to see, eat, hear and walk with. Dentures, hearing aids, glasses, purses, articles of clothing, keys and walking aids are very expensive and have an immediate impact when they go missing. I've seen the anxiety and frustration it causes residents and their family members when they can't find the item they rely on to carry out their day.
So how, why, who, where and what happened for these items to go missing? Well, unfortunately, the possibilities are endless and sometimes they cannot be recovered. Commonly residents place them somewhere and can't remember where that somewhere is.
Whether they loaned or gave it to another resident, placed it under the mattress or in the sofa for safekeeping, or threw the item in the trash can or even flushed it down the toilet (yes, this does happen).
I don't have all the answers but I do have some tips and remedies for these dilemmas.
First things first are keeping the resident's belongings from going missing in the first place. A golden rule to stick to is limiting the number of items that the resident has in their room. This doesn't mean the resident's room has to have a chic minimalist feel to it, just less clutter in drawers, closets, jewelry boxes, etc. Simply keep only the items that a resident uses and treasures. Personally for myself, a cluttered area in my home gives me overwhelm at times. So, imagine how a person with dementia processes clutter. Have a discussion with the caregivers/family members. If they are new admissions, ask about their behaviours regarding their personal items. Are they prone to misplacing or giving away their personal items? What are the common places that they usually place them? Maintaining resident routines may help prevent misplacement of items. When not using them, where would they like to put them? In a box in their bathroom or beside the bed? Residents may need help maintaining a routine therefore family and interdepartmental communication is key to making this a successful routine. Anyone who is a constant in a resident's life such as nursing staff, recreationists, housekeeping, maintenance staff, friends and family can all pitch in and help make this routine stick.
A label maker is one of my favourite tools for preventing items from going missing. Label the heck out of everything that can be labelled. We're talking wheelchairs (and the detachable foot pedals), walkers, canes, glasses and anything that they bring out of their rooms on a regular basis. Clothing is easily labelled, some home's laundry departments do this upon admission or the family members are responsible for it. In such a case, Mabel's Labels is an excellent custom labelling service, see the link below the article. Colour coding clothing is another great way of keeping the resident's clothes from ending up in the wrong place. I had a resident that loved the colours coral and powder blue, therefore her family would often buy shirts and sweaters in these colours. It was helpful to her as she always recognized her powder blue cardigan in a common area where she had forgotten it. Hearing aids are the most expensive and the easiest personal item to misplace. Residents often take them out because they aren't functioning properly, are uncomfortable or they aren't that crazy about wearing them in the first place. Absolutely label hearing aids, I'm telling ya it's worth it! For this you can use a thin-tipped permanent marker or depending on the size and design of the hearing aid you may be able to use a label maker label on it. Dentures are a hot item that often goes missing. Denturists can mark their names on the inside of the dentures. It may be an additional expense, however, it's more expensive to replace them altogether. There are kits that can be purchased, see the link below this article. Let's talk about glasses. Two great solutions are a discreet label on the inside arms. Also, glasses chains are an excellent way to keep them on their person. If they take them off, they are hanging around their neck. There are so many different designs and colours that can add a personal touch to the one who wears them. Keys! I can't say enough about the keys! Probably because they are the most likely thing to go missing. They are small and they all look the same. Luckily enough they are relatively cheap and easy to replace. Lanyards and personalized key chains are a quick fix for this dilemma.
That's all for today folks! Keep calm and label on!
Links
Mabel's Labels https://mabelslabels.ca/en_CA/
Glasses chains on Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=glasses+chain&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
Denture labelling kit on Mountainside Medical Equipment https://www.mountainside-medical.com/products/mark-it-denture-marking-kit
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