Grandma leaves the stove on. How big is this problem?

I found gadget that has eliminated my occasionally leaving eggs on to boil too long--it's a microwaveable egg cooker that does four eggs with hot water., eight minutes and they can sit there in a cooling microwave for awhile. It's made by Nordic ware, my daughter found it at a yard sale.

I have been looking for a safety device to deal with this problem and I ran across Burneralert website. Has anybody used this gadget? Does it work as advertised? I'm thinking about trying it for my own kitchen as one of us (not ME, yet) keeps leaving the invisible flame on the gas stove on. Bad enough coping with 2 elderly relatives with dementia; never mind trying to cope with the signs of it in ourselves.

Same thing happened this morning with my mom. For some weird reason, I was up at 7AM and (I live in a back apartment) decided to go in the house. It was filled with gas. I hv a live-in caregiver who goes to the gym while mother is still sleeping (she goes at 6A, back by 7A and mom usually wakes at 8 or 9, but not this morning). My solution will be to have the caregiver remove all the knobs and take them with her as I support her needing to take care of herself by going to the gym.

My mom left a pan of boiling water and it boiled dry. Another time she tried to burn the top of a kleenex box after she opened it (she was trying to burn the papers). She said there was a fire. I removed all the knobs when I found out.

As I type this, I feel so sorry for my parents [92 and 96] making the choice of staying in their own home of the past 30 years, but it was their choice.... Dad said he is now so bored. No longer drives. Would a new high tech automatic shut off work for Mom? Maybe. Maybe not. I know she would get upset if she was simmering something that required 2-3 hours and the stove turned itself off before then.

As for "warehousing", retirement communities and independent living facilities actually gives an elder MORE freedom and MORE choices.

At this one retire community that is near by, my parents could have an condo the same square footage as their current home... my parents could go grocery shopping every day if they wish as the place has transportation instead of waiting for me to shop for them... go to the indoor swimming pool which Dad would love... to the gym to work out those kinks... to one of the two restaurants.... go back to church on Sunday.... or just walk around the lovely grounds and talk to people their own age. They don't have those choices at their current home.

I want to celebrate JBrohan's wonderfully respectful idea to invent a stove on which one can set the time -- and have it turn ITSELF off if it's not turned off manually before then. Choosing and preparing food are so intimately bound up with a sense of comfort-- imagining ways we can use technology to increase the safety and freedom of these elders so they do NOT have to be warehoused is the kind of loving and respectful approach they deserve. Bravo!

I remember long ago when some older stoves had a bright red light if the stove/burners were on.

My new stove doesn't have any of that.... now at night to double check to see if the stove was on, I now have to turn on the kitchen light and check each burner/stove.... instead of looking at the stove in dark for the bright red light :(

Leaving stove on is not really good, no matter how old you are. Get her a microwave oven. Meals On wheels.

I was beginning to forget to turn off the gas burners. So we got an electric stovetop/hot plate that runs on ordinary house current, and put a timer on the electric supply. The stove has no power unless you turn on the timer. Ours can be set for up to an hour, but others have shorter limits.

This is a manual timer, simple to use, like many alarm timers. Just turn a knob to the right amount of time. This winds a spring and it slowly clicks around till the time is up, then turns off the power.

We added a big red light to ours, so it's easy to see when it's on.

Btw, my husband is continuing to improve! Apparently there was no real dementia, just some combinations of low blood sugar and change in meds.

Again thanks to Carol for telling me last year that a tiny difference such as release time, or manufacturer, or even color(!) can make a big difference in effects of the 'same' medicine. Getting him back to Sandoz bupropion has changed our lives! God bless you all!

When my LO stopped cooking on her own due to memory issues, I was confused. She knew it was not safe. Later on, just in case she forgot she didn't cook, I turned the power breaker off for the stove and clothes dryer so they had no power going to them. After that, you have to make arrangements to have food brought in for them though.

The micro wave can also present problems. They may forget that tin pans and silverware don't go into the microwave.

The heat/air thermostat is also problematic. I had to put a protective plastic box with a lock over it, because she would turn the heat up to 85 when it was 80 outside.

Sometimes, it's more than just the issue of forgetting to turn off the stove.

Chicago - It was an electric stove that my mil burned up. She was cooking something on the burner and forgot about it. It burned, then burned the pan, then caught fire ... that's when it was caught, but not before it had damaged the range and the hood. Both had to be replaced.

An electric stove is better than a gas one, although they can still burn up a towel, etc. Leaving the stove on at any age, is dangerous.

That is why I am glad my parents tend to use their microwave at lot than using their stove.

If on those rare occasions that Mom does use the stove, she always turns on a portable timer that will ring pretty loud if she should doze off while waiting for something to finish cooking.

I actually watched my,mother drying the wet sleeves of her sweater over the gas jets in my house....that's when I learned she can't even be left alone for a second without removing the knobs....stoves and the elderly don't mix

I leave my stove on frequently. Thank heaven for Tom. Don't anybody be tryin' to put me in a "residence". Ha! The bigger question is whether or not she can safely cook...handle boiling liquids...and use the oven. A family friend's brother got second-degree burns on both of his legs after trying unsuccessfully to remove a pizza from the oven in his bathrobe. A week in the hospital. I'd begged them to turn OFF the stove, but, "Oh....he's just fine." (He has dementia and, at the time, uncontrolled diabetes.

My mother in law burned up her range after leaving her stovetop on. She was lucky - she only had to replace the range, not the house. My mother did the same thing and I discovered it before any damage was done. It's a dangerous situation leaving a burner on. Not the same as leaving the oven on at all.

Mom tried to turn on the stove top while the power was out and filled her kitchen with natural gas. It was the "final straw". We moved her to ALF.

No different than a person in their 20's who is absent minded forgetting to turn off the stove. We wouldn't put a 25 year old in a residence.