My Mom is in a dementia unit and has been falling a lot recently. How can they keep her in a wheelchair?

These falls will happen. It happened last weekend with my Mom who was in her wheelchair near the nurses station, they saw her reaching down for whatever she thought she saw on the rug, and they bolted as quickly as they could, but Mom still tumbled out in a split second.

You are right, the facilities cannot use restraints. The way I look at it, even if Mom was back home in her own house, she would be falling even with a caregiver in the house. The caregiver cannot be glued to her, otherwise no meals would be made or any cleaning would be done.

Some elders can break a hip just standing up, it wouldn't need to be a fall. Modern medicine can keep our parents living to 100, but there is no cure for dementia and very brittle bones.

There are chair alarms that are clipped from the chair to a person's shirt. As soon as the weight in the chair shifts the chair alarm goes off. I would imagine that the facility would have these alarms.

things will happen, you cannot protect someone from ever falling. when my mom was in rehab for a fall and infection, they did get permission to put a seat belt on her chair from me because she has dementia and had never been in a wheel chair, so thought nothing of getting out of it.. all well and good, but come nite time, there is no way of preventing them from getting out of bed! my mom would get up everynite to pee! as freqflyer said "you cannot be glued to them"

I was doing some research lately and it seemed as if I read that sometimes provisions can be made for people who are not safe due to their own actions, such as falling, repeated fractures, etc. I might discuss it with her doctor to see if any type of support could be used to keep her upright.

Is she able to propel herself in the wheelchair? Being blind, I would imagine that she might benefit from having someone escort her to a safe place. What if she is rolled up to a table where she can rest her arms and have support if she does try to rise up? I'd inquire from the facility all of the options.

Also, your profile says she is in Independent Living. Is this true? I would be surprised that a blind dementia patient in a wheelchair would have enough support in IL. Have you considered a facility with more direct support?

Ativan is commonly prescribed for anxiety, but it did not help my cousin who had dementia much. She was constantly falling when she took it. She went on Cymbalta for her anxiety. (It's a daily pill.) And she saw a remarkable improvement. Her falls stopped when she went on the Cymbalta, though she is in a wheelchair. (Knock on wood.) I would discuss other options for medication with her doctor to treat her anxiety.

My Mom (dementia but not blind) too tried repeatedly to stand and walk on her own. After the 3rd fall, (and me begging) the AL put a seat belt on her wheel chair. They needed to have witnesses that she was able to open the clasp herself. So they trained her to do that, had it witnessed and then we all tried to 'untrain' her. This was done by putting a small lap robe over her belt so she wouldn't see it. She is gone now but she never fell after the seat belt was installed!

My mom used to walk to bathroom at nite and stumble about, my solution for her was to install rechargeable night lites along the hallway to bathroom and another in the bathroom.
But for the dementia patient in a facility, they probably have similar lighting so vision issues is not the problem. Does she use her call button before trying to get out of bed or chair?

I don't see any fail safe method of preventing falls. My mother, in a NH for 3 years with parkinsons, dementia and strokes, would try to get out of bed often. There was an alarm on the bed but by the time staff came running she was on the floor. Same with the wheelchair. Though it had a lap belt, she would undo it and slither out. In one instance she bent down to pet her (phantom) cat in the middle of the dining room and over she went, wheelchair and all.

Since my previous post above at the end of September, Mom is now using a Geri Recliner which is much more difficult for her to try to climb out.

I believe the falling is lost of balance as someone ages, and throw in mucular degeneration [lost of clear eyesight] to the mix, you have a recipe for falling. I know my Mom forgets she cannot stand or walk.