How Can You Help Prevent Your Senior from Wandering?

By Jamie Shapiro | August 17, 2016 | Comments Off on How Can You Help Prevent Your Senior from Wandering?

Home Care in Glenview IL

More than 5 million adults throughout the United States are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease. Of these, 3 out of every 5 will develop wandering tendencies. One of the most common behaviors of the disease, wandering tendencies can be frightening for you and dangerous for your aging parent. This type of behavior can be caused by a variety of influences, including the desire to meet unmet needs such as hunger or needing to use the restroom, wanting to follow a familiar old routine such as going to the grocery store, or wanting to feel secure during an anxious situation. Regardless of what compels your parent to wander, this can put them at very serious risk of severe injury or death. In fact, of those who wander and are not found safely within the first 24 hours, around 50 percent of them will experience a serious injury or die as a result of their wandering. Finding ways to prevent your parent from wandering is an important step in guarding them from these potentially devastating consequences

 

Some ways that you can help prevent your parent from wandering include:

  • Find the cause. Evaluate your parent’s wandering tendencies and see if you can identify the potential cause of behaviors. Once you identify this cause you are better able to address it effectively. Consider taking notes of your parent’s behaviors for several days and then evaluate these notes to find patterns that might point to the compulsion behind the wandering.
  • Keep them entertained. Boredom is a common cause of wandering, but one that is not as easy to detect as some other causes. Try finding meaningful activities that your parent can enjoy doing during the time of day that they frequently wander. This can help keep their mind engaged and active so that they do not have the compulsion to wander.
  • Meet their needs. Make an effort to always keep your parent’s basic needs met. This includes food, water, rest, use of the restroom, and pain management. Make an effort to find ways that you can detect when your parent is experiencing these needs so that even if they are not able to express them verbally, you can still identify them.
  • Consider home care. Wandering is not always a dangerous thing. It can be a form of mental exercise and get your parent physically active as well. Consider hiring an in-home senior care services provider who can be with your aging parent when you are not with them. This care provider can then “wander” with your senior if other methods do not work. Going on walks with them and following them when they start to roam allows your parent the freedom that they are seeking while also ensuring that they stay safe and secure.
  • Focus on home security. There may be times when your parent is at home alone or when you will be focused on other care efforts and may not notice them trying to get out of the house. Create an effective home security approach to control this movement. This should include locks on all windows and doors, multiple locks on doors that they use frequently, and alarms to indicate that a door or window has been opened. This can help to create a deterrent, but also make people aware that your parent is wandering so that they can be found and redirected safely.

 

If you or an aging loved one are considering home care in Glenview, IL, contact the caring staff at Companion Services of America today at (847) 943-3786. Our home care service area includes Northbrook, Highland Park, Deerfield, Glenview, Buffalo Grove, Evanston, Des Plaines, Skokie, Lake Forest, Wilmette and the surrounding areas.

 

Sources:

https://www.alz.org/norcal/in_my_community_18411.asp

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/caregivers/in-depth/alzheimers/art-20046222

Jamie Shapiro
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