Hello everyone! I joined AN a few months ago and love it! This is my first OP, and it is a long one, but please bear with me.
I wish I could type all about my grandma M, but where would I start? She was a lovely woman. Even after dementia ravaged her brain and took nearly all of her speech, she was always full of hugs and light-up-the-room smiles for her great-grandbabies. Every member of her family and many of the needy in her community had very warm and cozy feet because of her handmade slippers. :) She was mostly non-verbal, but if someone wrote the words "Mom" or "I love you" and asked her what they said, she could answer.
She also began wandering--almost non-stop. Her husband of over 30 years was very devoted to her and took care of her at home as long as he could. He had prosthetic hips and knees and was 90 yrs old, but when they were alone together he followed her at all times to make sure she was safe. He installed bells in their doorway so he would hear if she tried to leave the apartment. Two years ago however, the family together decided that for her safety and her husband's health, she should move into a memory care facility. Here she could walk to her heart's content and be safe.
One year ago this week, she eloped from her facility. She had a Wander Guard (or similar) device in place, but the door alarm never sounded. Once staff realized she was gone, the police were called immediately. Police, volunteers, and even the neighboring county's bloodhound went looking for her... but it was night in the upper Midwest, under 20⁰ F, and she was not dressed for the weather. She was gone by the time she was found.
I was sad that we lost her...I was devastated by how we lost her. I could barely get out of bed for two days when this happened, wondering if she was afraid or suffered or wondered why no one was coming to help her.
I will add too, that since her admission there had been no issues with her care. These were not bad nurses or CNAs. That time of night in LTC, there was probably one nurse and a couple CNAs on the floor. She was quick, and could have easily been gone in the time the two CNAs were stuck in a room doing incontinence care and the nurse was in another room giving a pain med. This was mainly the result of equipment failure.
Which brings me to my purpose in writing this. Does your facility have policies to address elopement risk? Quality control checks for the technology? If not, please consider approaching your nursing admin. You could help spare another elder the same death that my grandma died, and another family the pain of such a loss.
