My mother lives with me, refuses to see a doctor, see a dentist, is losing weight, has a dropped uterus, extremely paranoid, rarely bathes. She's starting to look like a skeleton. She will eat/drink only sweet things. Thank God one of them is Ensure. I've called APS twice (told me to call "the squad" when she gets bad), Alzheimer's Assoc (can't do anything without consent), Area Agency on Aging (had same suggestions as Alzheimer's). I want to be proactive, not reactive in her situation. I almost wish someone would turn me in for neglect so she'd be forced to get some help to start eating! Would getting guardianship help? I don't see how that would help in getting her to eat. Anything else I can do besides just letting her starve herself to death?
Thanks, all
Take care, I hope this helps.
As far as agencies go, I had 86 clients 10 years ago. I was overworked and only paid 10.86 an hour (with a college degree). We advocated to keep the poor, elderly in their own homes. Many/most times, there children did not care or lived out of state and preferred we become their "guardian angels". They expected us to solve all their prolems including taking keys away so their parents wouldn't drive. There are two sides to the story. When you are overworked and working within government regulations (both state and federal), you can't always do what you feel is right. However, given the size of the aging population and the poor, the government does a great job of providing safe care. You can't be everything to everyone.