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Is it considered a restraint? It's a bit difficult to figure out how bad my Dad's dementia is yet, but he is certainly unable or unwilling to remember to use his walker, and hence at a constant risk of falling. (He came home after a broken hip, and fell within three days.) Nor will he ask for help. So anytime we or caregiver look away or walk into other room he might stand up and fall.

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The lifts are not designed to have someone left in them for more than the few minutes the transfer takes. In my opinion this would definitely be a restraint, a very frightening and uncomfortable one at that. What other options have you explored?
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Even the lifts on a track system designed to allow walking around most of a room? That sounds like more than a few minutes.
At this pt. he's still in a rehabilitation place since his last fall, so we're just beginning to explore. We hope to bring him home next Sat because he is miserable there and will talk/yell about little else, and they say he's not making progress and has to be moved one way or another. From what I've read bed and chair alarms often don't ring in time unless one is feet away; some nursing homes call them "fall alarms" because they mainly serve to warn a fall is about to happen. I have volunteered to go 300 miles away to try to watch him most of the time, with some spells from other caregivers, but I'm worried about responsibility for him falling.
His whole life he has been stubborn and ornery, and rarely listened to anyone. (We may also have a problem keeping people since he has always unpredictably erupted and screamed at people, and its been worse since he can't hear well and misinterprets even in his quite together moments.) I am not exagerating, he is notorious in our town. Even though he is an extremely intelligent scientist/engineer we couldn't teach him to use a cell phone long before he had any dementia. He refused to focus, and has never cared if he did something dangerous that scared his family. We're talking about a person who has never been compliant about anything, for anyone. I just don't see how he'll be safe if I go let the dog out, use the bathroom, or take my mother a sandwich. The lift's with a track system would at least let him move around safely if I had to momentarily turn my back.
For now my mother is there and very on-the-ball, but she's got half a leg, and can't help him walk. So really all she can do is yell for someone else. He's quite prob even less likely to listen to her than others.
What would you suggest?
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Uhm, I can't see a lift being used as you imagine except perhaps as part of a special rehab apparatus.
I'm going to suggest you use the search box, type in "prevent falls", as any advice I have for you I would have learned from others on this site. Hopefully some others will chime in with their advice also.
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I found very little useful when I googled prevent falls, other than putting mattress on floor. Other than obvious things like remove obstacles etc. the general consensus I saw was it is near impossible if client persistently thinks they can walk on their own. The professional consensus is my Dad is in no way safe to walk without a walker. However he will try on his own whenever the mood strikes him.
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I meant to search this site, there is a search box on the main forum page, or if you open the menu by clicking the three lines on the left in the blue bar. I have read many posts from people with the same problems, unfortunately there are often no easy solutions.
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When I saw your question on the Newsfeed I was ready to assume that your father had been left too long in a hoist and you were checking what should be done about it. I must admit I was pretty stunned when I realised that actually you were asking from the opposite point of view - would it technically be all right to use the hoist/lift/tracking system as a means of keeping your father upright.

You didn't seriously, honestly now, think that would be acceptable, did you?

It isn't that I don't sympathise. Goodness, what I would have given at times for a non-punitive way of tying my mother to her chair...

One borderline legal/ethical technique would be to get your father an over-chair table that he can't easily move out of the way when he wants to get up, so that he has to call for assistance. But even that is not okay for any length of time - make it too effective, and you are imposing a "Deprivation of Liberty" on your loved one which can get you into serious trouble. I also placed my mother's walking frame so that she had to either go round it or use it, which gave me a tiny bit of extra time to get there when the pressure alarm went off.

In the end, you have two unattractive choices: supervise him constantly, or accept the falls risk having minimised it as much as you possibly can. I did say they were unattractive.
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I would think an over the chair table 1) more dangerous when he tried by himself to get out of it, and 2) much more frightening than a contraption that allowed him to walk around room safely. I'm sorry if I'm being dense. I myself would far rather be in a hoist than with a table holding me into my seat if I couldn't figure out the release. The table is clearly a restraint to me. Being able to get to chair/bed/toilet safely whenever you wanted does not seem in the same league. And way better than putting a person who can still sometimes have conversations with top scientists in the country into an impaired memory institution.
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I'm sorry but this is getting a little bizarre, there is no system into which you can strap a person which would allow him to walk around the house connected to a ceiling track, I can't even imagine how such a thing could possibly work even if there were. Unfortunately we have to make the best of what is actually available.
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I think the sad truth is that you can't protect your father from himself at this point. You can do the best you can, but you aren't Wonder Woman or Superman and can't be there 24/7. Do the best you can and what happens, happens. If he falls, he falls. Just make his room as protective as possible.
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Has he been seen by a geriatric psychiatrist? It sounds as though there are pre-existing psychiatric conditions which might be ameliorated by meds.

Frankly, I would arrange for a long term care facility. This does not sound like an undertaking for amateurs.
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midrashist, when elders get to a certain point in their life, they will fall, that is what they do. What kind of walker does your Dad have? Is it the type where it it only has one set of wheels on the back?

My Dad didn't use his walker much until I bought him a rolling walker [4 wheels, hand brake, seat, basket]... he loved it, thus would use it more. To him it was the best thing since slice bread... my Dad was also an engineer, and inventor. If he was younger, he'd probably invent something to make life easier for elders.

Now mind you, occasionally Dad would forget to use his walker, it is just something elder will do. And there is no way for caregivers to be glued to the hip to make sure they don't fall. Just hope it is a soft landing.
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He doesn't refuse to use walker or say he dislikes it. He just doesn't remember or think he needs it.
A family member is quite connected to the best doctors in Boston. He's been seen by very good doctors, including geriatric. However he himself has always hated almost all doctors, and won't listen. So we can only implement things that don't require his participation or consent.
Yes, it is quite clear he has various psychiatric issues, but that doesn't help keep him from falling. Anti-depressants (after he got to a point where he wasn't clear on what pills he was taking) have been a great help. The reputable rehabilitation place he's in he now also gives some kind of anti-anxiety medication, but it can make a person who was vibrant seem like a blob, which can seem worse to us than an !@#$%^&.
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I sympathise again. He really doesn't remember, and he really doesn't think he needs it. I wish more than anything that I had learned faster that this was symptomatic of dementia, and not stubbornness, inattention or some kind of death wish. How long do you expect your father to be in rehab? - because if he's coming home again, now is the time to get an occupational therapist in to recommend safety adaptations like hand rails, grab bars, room layout and so on.
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On psychiatric meds: My aim with my mom, who has vascular demential post stroke, is to keep her safe, calm and as healthy as she can be. It took a lot of trialing, but she is now on two antidepressants (remeron and lexapro, I think) and some klonopin for anxiety. She gets a fairly low dose of klonopin on a daily basis with more as PRN if she gets agitated. Like over the summer, when she thought she had leprosy......my aim is to keep her out of psychic pain as well as physical.

If your dad is a blob, then talk to the docs about titrating the meds. It CAN be done.
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Will this work?
NEVER leave a patient UNATTENDED in a hoist lift.
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Sure the meds can be titrated. But with someone who has been so difficult/abusive all his life, there's a pretty fine line. His "normal" with dementia added is pretty difficult no matter what drug cocktail. He's not always a blob, or I wouldn't try so hard not to have him in an institution.
And of course (before anyone asks) he was fitted with excellent hearing aids years ago. No one could convince him to wear them. Before any dementia. (It was a major "success" to even get him into see hearing guy at all.)
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I wasn't saying unattended. Unless you count when I'm using adjoining bathroom myself. Or my mother with phone is there while I walk the dog 300 ft. away.
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My father in law has fallen so many times ( he first refused a cane and then a walker) . The last fall the doctors deemed him unfit to care or make decission for himself and sent him by ambulance to a nursing home. We were not consulted but we're delighted by the decission. This is what we knew was best all along. This was a long two year journey of falls and release- lol
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I hear your frustration but not sure your option is viable. You will have to keep him within the "track" system confines, correct? I would be worried about his skin rubbing on the hoist sheet all the time. As an old home care nurse, I just can't imagine what you are saying would work. It sort of "is" a restraint-you are confining him to a certain area attached to a device with hooks and pullies.
Are you serious about doing this or is it an idea of yours that you would want to implement to prevent a fall?
In my opinion he needs 24/7 care and observation- whether he gets it at home with private pay or at a SNF. I don't feel putting someone in the situation you have described is reasonable for his freedom and well being. The idea of a chair with a table is better than this.
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