Sustaining Elder Care – December 2025
/It’s been a little more than a month since my sisters and I moved my dad to a memory care facility – away from the memory care residence we had moved him to in January 2023. We had decided that the residence no longer met his needs very well; he was spending a lot of time in his room on his own and the staff yelled for him to come to them for medications and meals. I’m looking back over the last month and realizing that there have been some challenges, but the move was worth it.
His new room require some new furnishings because it was bigger and configured differently. For example – the sink did not have surface area around it so we bought a piece that would provide surface area for things like his toothbrush and water glass plus some storage. It makes it easier for the staff to have the towels in the bathroom rather than in the closet! The room was big enough for 2 guess chairs rather than just one and he now has a chest of drawers to supplement the drawers under his bed (and we are not using the drawers under the bed very much now).
He was confused about the new place…anxious that he would not be able to find his way back to his room and forgetful about how to use the key fob to unlock his door. My sisters put seasonal wreaths on his door as do quite a few other resident’s families….so we opted to emphasize the Beagle Welcome sign. His eyesight is not great but perhaps the O of the wreath with the sign underneath is something he can see well enough. He is getting more proficient with the key fob that he wears around his wrist.
He complained about his big toe hurting and we discovered a bruise. He doesn’t remember anything happening that could have caused it. We are assuming he ran into a piece of furniture sometime when he didn’t have shoes on….not that long after he moved into his new place and was unfamiliar with everything. The bruise has disappeared now.
The staff was not used to shaving residents! My dad has an electric razor and the only staff member that knew how to use it was a male! We noticed that the other men in memory care all have beards. My dad is more comfortable now that he has assistance shaving. We discovered that the facility does not require electric razors (rather than old razors that can be a hazard for memory care residents)….perhaps they will change.
On the plus side – the facility consistently cuts up my dad’s food so that he can feed himself, gets him out of his room for exercise and socialization, helps him find his room/open his door as needed, and has taken quick action when we have noticed an issue.
The decorations for Christmas cover a lot of surface area inside my dad’s room right now…and a large television to play landscapes and animal scenes has been mounted above the dresser. I haven’t seen them yet. One of my goals, because of his eyesight and cognitive challenges, is to diplomatically encourage my sisters to declutter as much as possible.
