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Wow! You are going through a rough spot. I hope someone on the site has been in this situation so they can add some advice. In the end, this may all work out well, but you need support meanwhile. Please do keep checking back. There may not be anyone who has been through this exact thing, but many have been through the courts with their Alzheimer's parent.
Try to take care of yourself,
Carol
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Without more details, it's hard to know what advice to provide to you. Admission to a behavioral unit at a hospital is not so bad. Though, I wonder why it was ordered by the court? Can you give us more detail on that? If there are family members who are uninvolved or in denial, it might have been the only recourse the VA facility had left.

"Behavioral units" in hospitals are not just dirty psych wards. They are staffed by physicians and others who are trained to look at a WHOLE person. The patient may have drug interactions, allergies or other physical things going on that cause problems. The patient may also be violent with non-family members out of fear or dementia, perhaps the specialists in this "behavioral unit" will find treatments that will ease anxiety overall and actually help.

If you want advice, please give us more detail or ask for specific questions so we know what you need. Best of luck.
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Dear "MindingOurElders" and "LynnPo",
Thanks so much for your responses and encouragement. You're right, i offered no details at all. I'm new to the site and didnt know how to add more to the title. However, my dad was recently placed at a VA Hospital Alzheimer's Unit by our family. We were taken back to walk into the secured unit after being buzzed in, and approached by the staff with a "by the way" comment of: "oh - your Dad is being transferred to the Behavioral Clinic". We were shocked by the news since he had only been there less than 2 wks. The family was not called in ahead of time and the news was not explained or broken to us gently. We had a hard time understanding their confusing responses. After we asked if we had a say in the matter - they immediately set a court order in motion. The staff explained that since the time of his arrival, our Dad had been refusing therapy, meals, and meds. We had been at almost every meal, and even some of the therapy sessions and didnt agree with their generalized statement. The DOR was very visibly put off with our questions and appeared annoyed by our questioning their actions. This made us uncomfortable and confused. We knew that our father was going through some very heavy sundowning - but mainly because he wanted to go to his own home.
Since the time of his admittance to the behavioral center - we have discovered "Leeza's Place" [Alzheimer's Advocacy Center] The staff there has been so so compassionate, very knowledgeable on all related topics of AD, and have educated us on the possible reasons for the referral to the behavioral center. Although the VA Hospital is rated "5-Star" and the facility is absolutely beuatiful, the staff lacks in atleast the area of relating information to the family. We would have been horrified to go visit our Dad and find that he had disappeared from the hospital.
We now understand that the behavioral center was only to assess all medications and seek out something to help my father with his agitation. We still are unsure whether we want to return our father to the VA Hospital when he is released from the beahvioral center.
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I'm so glad to hear that your dad is getting a better assessment in the behavioral center. Honestly, the VA hospital might not be the best place for him. I've dealt with two VA nursing homes and found their social services staff either totally incompetent or non-existent. I've also found that these VA places expected to house older men, they were set up well to meet the physical needs of medical patients. They never realized that they'd be asked to deal with dementia and alzhiemers or provide hospice care for dieing patients. Why it didn't occur to them, I'll never know - seems pretty simple to me... but it is a branch of the military and they sometimes have difficulty realizing that the "mission" is obsolete. A new VA home in my Mom's home town has had such a difficult time attracting qualified veterans that they've opened admission to indigent SPOUSES of veterans - go figure.... Anyway - if you feel that the rights and best interests of your dad have been ignored or completely disregarded, perhaps you should call the dept of health in the state where you live. Even though these are federally funded, they may still have to comply with state regulations. I would certainly raise a BIG STINK over the failure to notify family and treat you so poorly. Even a call to your state senators is not out of the question if it gets them to pay attention. I hope you find a place where your Dad will adjust and soon feel at home. Watching them decline this way is the hardest thing of all but at least he has some caring kids - he must have lived right so far! Good luck.
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dear Lynnpo

i am south texas, and this VA hospital also has spouses of veterans admitted here. we were cocerned as a family to do anything that owulod comprise my dad's stay at the VA. Meanwhile we have looked around/ just in case we do feel that we need to move him elsewhere.
thanks for your comments. appreciated very much
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