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I sleep in the bedroom with my spouse and keep the bedroom door locked so he can't get out. What do you do when it is a parent? How do you keep them from wandering? I ask because I want to go out of town and don't know how the caregiver will handle this.

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There are security measures that can be set up, like alarm on the bed, alarm on the doors, etc. I hope others will give more details on it. I haven't had to use them.

I think that I would explore having husband stay in a secure facility while you are out of town, if funds allow. When a dementia patient wanders, leaving them in the care of someone who is not used to supervising someone around the clock might be quite challenging. Are the new caretakers prepared to lose sleep for the length of your your trip? I would think that professionals might be more adept when security is a risk.
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I agree that this is likely to be a challenge for temporary caregivers. Perhaps another possible solution would be to hire someone specifically for the night-shift in addition to other cover?
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Jazzy, I would call a professional licensed caregiving Agency who can have 3 shifts of workers take care of your husband.   It depends if your budget could afford this.   The night shift is required to stay awake all through the night.   Usually the Agency has women or men who only do the night shift, thus have already had their sleep during the day.   If someone cannot make their shift, the Agency is usually pretty quick at finding a replacement caregiver.   It's something to think about.

Above Sunnygirl had a good idea, see if a local Assisted Living/Memory Care facility has "respite care" where hubby can stay while you are away.   Who knows he might enjoy his "vacation" while meeting new people his own age :)
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My husband has only wandered once and was all the way to the highway. This was during the day and I got him back safely My son immediately had dead bolt locks with a touch pad put on the inside of the outer doors. Those are locked whenever I'm upstairs in our 2 story house and at night. He doesn't know the combination and can't open them
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Dear Jazzy,

I know our loved ones are not prisoners but for their own safety, can you install a bed alarm? Once they get out of bed, the alarm will go off. Nursing homes have this feature. Or is possible to install a lock on the door from the outside. Or putting a security camera of some sort into their bedroom or a baby monitor? I hope some of these suggestions are useful. I know its not easy.
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Some very good suggestions here! Thank you. I don't like to disrupt his routine and I know he would be comfortable with our usual caregiver but having another for the night might be a really good idea, as well as some of the devices mentioned here. Thanks.
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My Mom was up all night. When I went out of town I took her to a facility for Respite Care and it worked out great. She did really well there. I think it was harder for me to leave her, than it was for her.
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Sounds like your parent needs to be evaluated by his or her physician. They probably will need 24 supervision in a memory care center or nursing facility. Hugs
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Hi Jazzy2,

We've compiled an article of tips and tricks from members on how they handle wandering. This may be helpful as well. Check it out here: https://www.agingcare.com/articles/wandering-and-getting-lost-top-tips-from-dementia-caregivers-226186.htm

Kind regards,

The AgingCare Team
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I hired the shift change type of caregivers- like said above the night time one stays up all night... it was SO helpful- when mom got up and was lost not knowing where she was... the lady gave her something to drink and cookie or showed her the bathroom and back to bed.
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I bought a mat with an alarm for my mother to use for my dad. She has it positioned near the bedroom door so when he gets up to wander out the bedroom, the alarm wakes her up. You can find it online.
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I bought a mat with an alarm for my mother to use for my dad. She has it positioned near the bedroom door so when he gets up to wander out the bedroom, the alarm wakes her up.
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I had a cat who did this in his final 4 years of his life. A cat is not a human, of course, but I was told by a vet that the wandering/lost my cat did (each night at 0130 or so, he would howl in the kitchen until I soothed him and brought him back to bed) is called "Sundowner's Syndrome". It's the same name used for humans. The above advice is very familiar from my HUMAN caregiving activities as well. One more tactic I use for back-up safety: I use THETILEAPP dot com. They send you a TILE and you attach it to something the loved one wears. You can track them for up to a mile using Bluetooth on your phone. I attached one to Mom's dog leash, because she "disappears" with the dog, never alone. She got lost once while walking the dog and this tool would have helped me find them faster. This is to ADD to your repertoire of tools upon your return, as I have nothing more helpful than what has been posted. Have a great trip!
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I used the monitor for my Hubby. Positioned it so when he put his feet on the floor, the bell would ring on the receiver. It is a Smart Pager TL-5102MP. Has the transmitter which can be moved in to any position and uses either batteries or plug-in adapter. The receiver can be carried with you. Mine clipped to my belt. Has quite a range of detection. I think I got it on Amazon. Now that Hubby has passed away, I use it as a detector in the hall of my home with the receiver with me as I sleep.
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Can't beat respite care if you are going away or need a rest. For the right price, stays not cheap, there are facilities that have all the whistles and bows for you to have peace of mind. I have found it difficult to find good help thru agencies or privately. Both can be expensive and have guidelines in place for timeframes. That's not to say I ever stop looking cause I know it's a necessity and I don't cut back on $ for the right person. I believe respect and trust is crucial with someone caring for a loved one and in my home. I love the ideas of cameras, but then ? where's the trust? Is it really a rest if you are monitoring cameras? As a caregiver to my brother with ALZ I've used facilities with excellent results. He's been content, Thank God. The attention, socializing, activities and experienced help trained in memory impairment makes a difference for him and gives me peace of mind. Let's not forget it's a rest for both of us. Take care of you as well!
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For my grandma I use a bed alarm on her. We got it on amazon. What's great about a bed alarm is that you can set it up to be anywhere. If you don't want the person sitting up, then you put it behind their back. if standing up is your worry, you put it either under their bottom or where they place their feet. It's flexible. As for door, we had a motion monitor on the door to alert us at night if the door was open (we never had to use it thank goodness as she doesn't leave the house).

I currently use a baby monitor with my grandma. It alerts me of any noises in the room and allows me to see if she's still in her bed or chair. She is trained now to yell for help but before that it was a challenge to keep her in bed especially if the urge to go to the bathroom came around. I even have one that pushes to talk so I can talk to her and reassure her without getting out of bed. She hears my voice and assumes I'm in the chair next to her and she just goes peacefully back to sleep (if she's not yelling really loudly that is).

Before she got too bad we also used a push button pager on her. She would wear it around her neck and she could plush the button and it would automatically call someone on her list of people to call. She used it many times to call me to ask me a question since she could remember to push the button but not to pick up the phone and dial a phone number. It was all automatic so worked great. We got that at Walmart and it was called Freedom Alert. What I loved about this was that there was no monthly fee and it could be set up to call individuals rather than 911 all the time. 
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Make sure the caregiver can monitor him with some kind of bed alarm, et al.
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There are bed alarms that go off when a person gets up, as well as mats. Locks for doors leading outside the house etc. I have to tell you that I personally was frightened at times when my mother woke up at night because she could get loud and angry. Please make sure that whomever you get to come and spend the night has had previous experience with these actions. It can be an eye opener to say the least!
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