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My Dad, who has Alzheimer's has been hitting his girlfriends caregiver when she helps her because he thinks she is hurting her or he wants to help her. The girlfriend is at a later stage of Alzheimer's. How should the facility handle the situation to prevent the aggression. He is fine otherwise.

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Agree with Gigi11. This is scary for you and may be unsettling for the caregiver. Depending on the facility, most ALZ care facilities and their staff are well trained to handle and cope with these situations. They will know how to redirect him or have someone come in with them to help manage.

If it is a problem and you are worried, please speak with the resident's Director and let her know you are concerned and how they normally handle.

I was told by one facility, that they are trained to redirect and will do everything in their power to alleviate the situation before the would consider dismissing the resident. This would include redirection, speaking personally with the resident, medical evaluations, family discussions, etc. They said they would only dismiss the resident if it got so severe that the resident was a harm to himself, staff, or other residents and said this was very very rare that it couldn't be managed.

This behavior can be common with dementia and ALZ because they can be delusional, paranoia, hallucinatatory, etc. Its difficult to witness; but usually quickly passes and the resident moves on and settles back into normal behavior and it tends to be short-lived.

Maybe when the caregiver is tending to the wife, another staff member can encourage dad out of the apt and into the common areas or hallways while the caregiver tends to wife.
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Well, this is a heart-breaking turn of events, isn't it? So sorry you have to deal with this. However, the facility staff should know how to cope. Or perhaps he needs a higher level of care now. For sure he needs to be evaluated for medication to give him relief from the irrational fears. God bless.
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