Keeping my mother safe

I would also urge other older adults to carry some form of communication. I am not as steady on my feet as I would like to be and have a resolution to always have my cell phone but I rarely do that.
What I do always have in my pocket is a key ring with a door key watch and whistle on it.
I have locked myself out of the house on numerous ocassions, watches don't like to be on my wrist and quickly fail and the whistle is to summon help as we have a big wooded yard.
Wandering is a very serious concern and falls can hapen at any age.

When my Mom was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's ( a diagnosis now taken back) she told all the neighbors. -her Mom, my Grandma had it so I guess she knew what to expect-Her one neighbor-who is so sweet and funny-hugged her and said she would make sure to bring her back home if she found her wondering the neighborhood in her bra. Mom laughed. Good to let the neighbors know. It takes a village, right?

Ive been thinking I better get a id bracelet, I know I will have her rescue alert necklace on her now once she is working out in the yard. My mom wandered off last summer with her garden tool bag and my shitzu and ended up walking about 8 blocks. Pretty scary, she had put her tennis shoes, shirt and some garden tools in her garden bag. I had a small search party out looking for her then about 30 minutes later a pickup truck pulled up with my mom in truck. She had gotten tired and stopped at a strangers house because she was ready to pass out. Luckily the house she stopped at knew my neighbor. My mom told me she needed to go help people with their gardens. It was a very frightening experience. I didn't want many more of this especially with the warmer weather coming, I leave my fulltime job next friday and will start working daytime hours so I can be home more when she needs me most.

Very frightening. Try and make sure you mother has her name and address on her person. Once an elderly lady came to my home with her little dog. She said she was lost and her family had driven off without her. She said she came from a town about 30 miles away. She asked to use the bathroom and I held the dog. The dog had her name and address on his collar. She lived about 1/2 a mile away so I just drove her home. Half the neighborhood were gathered in the yard and the police were looking for her.

I had checked with local police when I had to report theft when my mom was at nursing home but local police didn't know anything about it told me to call county sheriff. When I receive the community newsletter they have many articles about seniors which is nice to see....I will update as soon as I hear from the sheriff.

I'd be really interested in hearing what your county has available. Pop back on after you talk to the sheriff and share, OK?

My city has an automatic phone messaging system to contact every resident. For example it was once used to report a problem what was going to make water unavailable starting at a certain time and lasting for a certain number of hours. I think I remember a storm message, also. Last fall there was a message reporting an elderly gentleman missing, describing where he had wandered off from and what he was wearing. I was very glad to get another message about an hour later saying he had been located and he was unharmed. Whew!

It is interesting to hear how communities deal with this growing problem.

yes it was very frightening. hour earlier i had just dealt with my runaway dog what a crazy easter it was. Im going to check with the county sheriff about the GPS just in case. Now that its getting warmer I have my mom wear her rescue alert so when she is outside she has it in case of a fall. Her new homecare service started today and it seemed to go very well. She hugged the caregiver when she arrived and when she left....hoping this goes well.

That sounds frightening. It sounds like a GPS might be the way to go if you can get her to wear one. Some people even have a fence with a locked gate so their loved one can't wander off. I am glad that you found her safe at the neighbor's house. I know you were in a state by the time you located her.