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Asking for neighbor not online- dad forgets he needs slippers or shoes on and the house has hardwood flooring throughout. He has fallen 3 times in 9 months, first breaking hip, second just soreness and 3rd hitting face and forehead that looked horrible. Is there a case manager or someone they can contact to come look at their home and suggest safety things for him to live alone? Thanks!

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Their Area Agency on Aging might be of help. They can assess what help is needed and see if the dad qualifies for any services. This is all fine and good BUT it will not help dad remember to put socks and shoes on or slippers.
If he is living alone he probably should either not be alone or have help in the morning at least getting dressed and ready for the day.
If dad is cognitively impaired with other respects that is another reason he should not be alone.
Their doctor cold also order a Physical Therapist to assess him and determine if 1) the house is safe
2) there are no trip hazards
3) does he need a walker, and if he has one is it being used properly and hopefully each time it is needed.

(there are hospitals that have programs, classes that teach fall prevention wit the hope to minimize falls)
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SavingMom2014 Mar 2022
Thank you! I never thought of therapist to do assessment. I think that would be good too. Any person walking on hardwood floors could fall in socks. I thought maybe handrails in the hallway too
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That many scares is telling you he is not able to live alone or at the very least someone should check in with him several times a day.
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SavingMom2014 Mar 2022
Thank you I’ll tell them. She was wondering too about a camera on the hallway to make sure
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A simple and immediate fix would be to replace all the socks with ones that have non slip soles. Since these sometimes are not the best fit to wear with shoes a few pair of regular socks could be kept in a separate place for when he needs them.
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If an elder is 'forgetting' to wear socks & falling on a regular basis, to me it's indicative of cognitive impairment/dementia. If that's the case, living alone is not a good idea. Even if dementia is not at play, being that he's fallen 3x in 9 months with injuries resulting, he should not be living alone! Installing cameras will only show you that he HAS fallen, once he falls. While nothing will prevent an elder from falling in the first place, if he were living in Assisted Living, for instance, there would be carpeting on the floors instead of hardwood (in most cases) making it a safer environment overall. My mom's AL had handrails in all the hallways, too. Showers were equipped with all the bells & whistles required for safety, too.

An Occupational Therapist is the one to hire to come in to do a safety assessment to see what changes need to be made to make the elder's home better for him. I'm surprised one wasn't sent home as an after care plan when he broke his hip. A senior case manager can be hired; Google it for details. But in reality, living alone becomes a safety risk at some point for most seniors in general, especially if cognitive impairment is a factor, and when they are prone to falling.

That said, my mother fell 95x living IN Assisted Living and then Memory Care AL. So there is no way to prevent it, depending upon what the cause of the falls are to begin with. Sometimes it's pure stubbornness at play (I don't NEED a walker!), sometimes it's dementia and forgetting they can't walk, which was the case with mom, and sometimes it's loss of balance issues, etc. Yes, AL makes it safer in general for the elders, but there isn't 24/7 caregivers to watch them, and even if there was, falls STILL can't be totally prevented, unfortunately.

Wishing your neighbor the best of luck finding the appropriate living conditions to suit his needs
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That will be a good idea if you want to convert your house into a nursing home. Falls in the elderly population are pretty common. As a matter of fact, a fall has been the cause of death in many cases.
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Dada forgets to put on (non skid) shoes. Immediate solution. Hire someone (a neighbor perhaps) to come over twice a day, morning and night, to put on and take off shoes for the dad, preferably a pair of shoes that is hard for the dad to take off.

Short term solutions. Install carpet through out the house, non-slip rubber mat in shower/bathtub,have dad wear a fall alert pendant.

Dad forgets to put on sboes to walk safely. This is a sign that his cognitive reasoning is slipping. What else does he forget? How about turning off stoves? Locking doors?

He needs long term solutions.

Long term solutions. In addition to the short term solutions, hire caregivers to be with dad during the day until he goes to sleep. Or move dad to Assisted Living.

Good luck to your neighbor and his/her dad.
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BurntCaregiver Jun 2022
If the father doesn't have sense enough to wear slippers or shoes so he doesn't fall, he should not be living alone anymore.
Renovating the entire house and installing carpeting throughout the house will be an expensive mistake. What usually follows in the progression of dementia and mobility issues is incontinence. There is nothing more disgusting than a house full of wall-to-wall carpeting that's being pissed and crapped on repeatedly. I've worked in the homes of many elders where this was a bad problem.
The father needs to be placed in the appropriate care facility or have a live-in caregiver.
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I am astonished at the jump to extreme solutions I'm seeing here. Yes, the local Area Agency on Aging is a great resource. So is your local Community Action agency. If he has a Medicare supplement, they may have case managers who could arrange for a safety assessment in the home. His primary care doc is another good resource. My husband's PCP has been very on top of safety issues and offered many ideas for resources. In our area the local Lions Club is a good resource for installing things like hand rails. There is help! None of this is to say that perhaps he should no longer be living alone; it simply seems like a rush to a decision.

One other option may be house sharing--finding someone, perhaps a nursing student, who would live there in exchange for a certain number of hours of responsibility for some well-defined chores. It sounds as though this gentleman does not need someone to do personal care at this point.
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How the heck did this thread get resurrected?
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polarbear Jun 2022
My mistake.
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