Dad has dementia and is wandering, my mom is primary caregiver and is hard of hearing. Tips/advice for door alarms or alerts?

Get your father a silver alert bracelet. My local police department uses a silver alert program to help identify wandering seniors.

Check with the police and they will have you fill out information on your Dad. They will send you the bracelet with a special ID number on the bracelet that the police can use to identify him and contact you.

Child locks and alarms work well and are reasonably priced. Also, try installing a lock at the bottom of the door or at the top. Your dad may not think to look in those places to unlock the door.

When I was young, my brother was prone to sleep walking. My parents set up a system that when he opened the door, it flipped the light switch on to alert them that the door was open. That might help.

We had the same issue and self-installed a system from simplisafe. It is great, easy, and does the trick. I wish you well. This is a hard time for us all...

We used a baby monitor! You can place two transmitters around the house (near doors) and she will be able to hear whatever he's up to. We also put extra door locks high up where mom couldn't unlock them. Some meds help with wandering, if he can stand the side effects. Best of luck to you ! ♥

Cajean, you mentioned meds as an option. Has anyone had success with this? My mom, 92, has dementia and wanders the house at night she chipped her hip December 30 from a midnight fall at my sister's home. Tonight, we're going to try using a baby gate to keep her corralled in the master suite, where she has access to the potty and water. (My husband and I have moved upstairs.) If the gate upsets her, we may want to try a mild sedative.

I know of a self installed door alarm that would wake the dead. We had to get them, because we have a pool and it was required. They are quite annoying and are $100.00 each, but would be worth it.

I agree with the other posts. An alarm of some type would be best. Either a professionally installed alarm or one from a hardware store that you install yourself to the exterior doors. Good Luck!

I agree with the other posts. An alarm of some type would be best. Either a professionally installed alarm or one from a hardware store that you install yourself to the exterior doors. Good Luck!

Actually I saw something interesting at mom's nursing home. They use a device that they place say like on the inside shoulder and then there is a part that is magnetic that shows on the outside looks like a white circle. What it is is an alarm system. When the patient reaches a certain point the alarm sounds long before they even step outside. There are mats that are placed in front of the door like a regular door mat on the inside or outside and it will trigger an alarm which is great for nighttime wanderers. They are now making monitors with GPS as well so if they do manage to get outside of the home or facility, they will be found via satellite and then whomever that handles those situations can use the coordinates to come get the person who has wandered. There are some really new products for people trying to take care of their elders or children for that matter.I am not backing any of their products as I have not had any chance to use any of them. I am just giving you ideas that you can think about to see what would work best for your situation. I am actually glad that mom died before she got "that bad" to where I had to worry about her going out of the house. I recall how bad my step-father was and he was in a VA hospital during the middle 1980s. I remember how the nurses and staff in general would get so worked up when the patients were not in their beds when they were supposed to be. We did not have many of these devices back then. So I am very happy that caregivers now are better equipped to keep an eye on their patients even during sleeping hours. Should you decide to purchase a product like one of the ones on this site or wherever (You could even try Alick's Home Medical online.) Please let us know how well you like it and how well it works for you.