Do you expect to be notified when your loved one falls in assisted living?

Roho cushion on a wheelchair seat is good for preventing bedsores.

Teaqueen, regarding my Mom and what the Staff did to help keep her from falling... my Mom was given a geri-recliner to sit in and the nurses/aides would put a pillow behind her knees which made it more difficult for her to climb out of the recliner.... plus they would bring Mom, in her recliner, to the nurses station to watch her. Mom would once in awhile pull that pillow out, she had to really work at it, and try to climb out.

For Mom's bed, the nurses/aides would place pillows all around her making it more difficult for Mom to swing her legs over the side of the bed. Once in awhile she would, but then her room-mate would buzz the nursing station. There were also fall mats on both sides of the bed, and the bed was lowered to the lowest point.

It all depends on the continuing care facility... assisted living is more for those who are able to somewhat take care of themselves, yet need to use a walker and are prone to falls. My Mom was in a place more similar to a nursing home, thus an even higher level of care.

FreqFlyer.....you said: "It took a lot of trial and error to find a safe way to keep her from tumbling as most continuing care facilities cannot strap down a person."

Would you mind sharing your trial and error and what was eventually helpful for your loved one?

We just placed my step mom in AL a month ago because of her frequent falls at home. She has fallen a few times in the AL but we always get a call from the facility. And since my Dad and I are both on her call list, we each get one.

At the senior living facility where my Dad is now living, they call me any time he has a fall.... if it a fall during the night with no injury the staff will wait until morning to call me. They also call if Dad said he had fallen but had gotten up on his own. Dad has memory issues so he might have had a dream he had fallen.

I kinda wish the Staff would only call if 911 was involved, as I always become a nervous wreck any time I see the facility telephone number on my Caller ID, my hands are shaking when I go to reach for the phone :( This has to do with the past seven years of my parents living on their own, being in their 90's and falling.

Sophe
Glad the move went as smoothly as possible - does your mom have a gel seat cushion and pillows for her legs ? Being stuck in a wheelchair from sunrise to sunset has got to be uncomfortable - is she given any nap time in bed during the day?
My mom had a bad fall within weeks of moving into a memory care assisted living facility and I've had a personal caregiver in her room overnight since - I can't afford this much longer but I draw moving her somewhere which could be just as bad and further away
While they did call me at 6:00 am because they feared she broke her hip and needed to call 911 I have witnessed numerous falls of other residents with the type of facial injuries you described -
one woman fell 2x in a day and lost her tooth and no one even noticed that - another fell at 11:00 pm - I was nearby but couldn't catch her - they did not call her daughter until next day who then took her to urgent care only to be questioned by the dr why she waited so long to bring her in with head trauma- now there's a sign in the nurses office to notify this woman's POA immediately of any injury - aaack
I'm scared for my poor mom who's nearly 93 and is unstable even with her walker - add in a little seroquel and she's dizzy but needs to get up and pee several times at night
And then of course there's the menagerie of dogs and kids allowed to run wild around this place which touts itself the leader in memory care - fine for an 80 year old man who needs to wander around but that's about it

You should always be notified if your parent had a fall.

I'm sorry to hear that, Sophe - you really can't win, can you! I hope they get on top of the problem quickly.

Mom has avoided falling anymore due to the higher level of care and the use of a chair alarm system. But the lesson of "every action has an equal and opposite reaction" applies, so now she's developing a pressure sore from being seated so much. They are working on positioning to eliminate that threat. Still declining but at least safe and reasonably comfortable.

So the new place with the higher level of care, they keep her right by the nurses station and have an alert on the wheelchair for when she tries to get up out of the chair. Moving around in it is fine, but standing up sets off an annoying electronic squeal. Operant conditioning to not stand on your own seems to be working. She has a nice view window with lots of birds at the feeder. She seems to be unaware she moved. And here I worried all about this move, expecting the same behaviors as last time. No problem this time.

Yes, the facility supposed to call you every time your mom fel and/or her illnesses comes up. If not, they could be sued with neglect or abused. So, I would be concerned about them not calling you and not notified you.

So glad to know you were able to move your mom to a better place with a higher level of care (and caring). Best of luck.

Absolutely. I would be very disappointed to not be told this, especially given the frailty and the fact that she's broken bones before. You should have it written into her care plan that they are to notify both you and her doctor, should she fall. (Also, being prone to falls can increase her care needs, which would increase the cost of care, possibly quite a bit if she needs an attendant to walk her to and from meals for instance.)

It's been 24 hours that she's in her new 'home'. We moved all her pictures, furniture, etc in one day. I stopped by today to see how she was doing. She's doing OK. She did not recognize me, but that's been happening. Apparently she went to bed under her covers in her bed without too much fuss last night. Either she's too far gone to care anymore, or she recognizes her stuff and just accepted the changed environment. So, as far as I'm concerned, it was a success. It poured buckets of rain during the move, but we coped with that. I did not tell her we were moving. I said we were going for a drive, staying for dinner and then trying the place out for the night. That seemed to work. I don't know if she will protest or raise a problem in a couple days, or will just not care.

Sophe, keep us up-to-date on how well the move went, and if your Mom likes her new home.

Moving day is here, pray for her and especially for me. :-}

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Yes, I'm the one on all the paperwork to be notified, with my husband as second (did not get a call either). The higher level of care will be at a completely different facility which is closer still to where I live, hence faster to get to the facility. The facility she was at, they had a complete roll-over in admin and nursing. They did notify hospice (which has since kicked her off their service) and the hospice nurse allegedly looked at her. But she had all the skin off her nose, like a big rug burn, a huge black eye that went from the scalp line to the mouth. And other scrapes on the face. This is not the first time they didn't call me, either. So that's it for the entire service provider group. Won't deal with them again. Moved her to a private facility with much better level of direct accountability. Owner works on site full time. But I know she's going to get really upset at the move and be disoriented, again. NOT looking forward to that. On the up side, she was well enough this week to load her into the car and take her for a drive to see all the blooming dogwood and lilacs and we took back a bouquet of blooms for her. With all our woes, I wish all the mothers and daughters a Happy Mother's Day.

When the person is admitted, you sign a form about what you want to be notified for and which person is to be notified (just one). So who signed the papers?

Yes, someone should be notified, and it sounds like you are the one at the top of the list? Dad was only in MC for about a month, and we got calls quite a few times.. sometimes things were fine and sometimes we had to go the hospital and meet them ( normally after I worked all day and had taken a pill to help me sleep...LOL) Not funny.. but I try... They fall, and they get hurt sometimes worse than others.. but you need to know! I can imagine how upset you were to see her.I hope a higher level of care works.. dad just kept trying to stand up..and they could not catch him in time.

Yes....someone should absolutely be notified immediately. Now WHO that is probably depends on that person meeting certain legal requirements, such as Rainmom mentioned. I find it hard to believe that any reputable ALF, as part of a standard interview, patient evaluation and intake process would not have contact info for the appropriate people....and notify at least, the first person on that contact list, when any fall occurs.

In my case, both brother and myself share healthcare POA. Since he lives near Mom, he is the ALF's first point of contact. If he is not available, then I am contacted. We, in turn, inform each other and 3rd sib who lives overseas. Mom's ALF ALWAYS contacts us with any info on a potentially dangerous event. Mom is 94+ and now wheelchair bound after numerous falls, breaks, surgeries starting at 91YO (prior to being in this ALF). She is alarmed to the hilt and still considered a huge fall risk.

You were not contacted....who was? Anyone? If no one was contacted, I'd be very wary of moving your Mom into higher care in this facility. At minimum, you and other family members need to talk to them about this event and be sure that you and the ALF agree on when and who needs to be contacted....ALWAYS....re: your Mom's care and when any adverse events, such as falls, occur.

I agree with Frequent Flyer. Once a person becomes a fall risk it is commonplace for them to fall but having said that I believe they should definitely contact you every time

When my Mom was in a continuing care facility she was falling once or twice a week mainly because her brain didn't realize she could no longer stand up much less walk. It took a lot of trial and error to find a safe way to keep her from tumbling as most continuing care facilities cannot strap down a person. Mom was like Harry Houdini and could get out of just about anything.

Even if there was very minor injury, such as a scrap on Mom's ankle, the facility would give me a call. The HIPAA form asked for one person to be the main go between, and that was me.

Oh please note, even if Mom was living with you, unless she was glued to your hip like a 2 year old, she would fall if she is now a fall risk. You could turn to answer the phone and Mom would fall in a split second. So if you start getting a lot of calls from the higher level of care facility, it all part of getting older and losing one's balance or legs giving out.

Technically it may all depend on Hippa, POA, guardian status and the like. But if you are legally in the position to be informed - yes, they should be notifying you. Could it be possible that your mother asked them not to notify you? Regarless - you are making the right decision to move her to receive better care, in my opinion.

I think you have the right solution -- moving her to a higher level of care.