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My father is a resident at a memory unit in an ALF. His possessions have a habit of disappearing. In the past this has been a combination of him misplacing things and theft by other residents. As common an occurrence as this is in facilities like this, I begrudgingly accept it as an inevitability . The current lost items though are his hearing aides, which were pretty expensive. Is the facility financially responsible for replacing these if they can't be found?

I would expect that almost everything will go missing at some time, especially if the facility is doing laundry.

Where my mom was, quite a few of the residents would go from room to room opening drawers and closets and helping themselves. The rooms all looked alike so confusion over where your room and whose drawers you were opening was rampant.
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Reply to LakeErie
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I would report missing items to the director. Do not expect financial compensation, this would be a constant and bottomless pit for any managed care.
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Reply to Daughterof1930
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I understand not wanting to lose expensive items like hearing aids, but please don’t take them away. Please try to find cheap or pre-owned ones, or consider trying a tether or clip. They make neon colored ones now that might make them easier to find. Mark them with his initials. We think differently about taking away eye glasses, because many of us know how hard it can be without clear vision. But hearing is just as important for safety, quality of life, and cognitive function. It can already be challenging to visit and converse with loved ones with dementia, and hearing loss just compounds the problem. They need the best hearing possible to help slow their decline. Please be your dad’s advocate in this regard unless he already wasn’t communicating before the aids were lost or he consistently refuses to use them. Another thought is bring them with you and have him use them when you visit.


Also, don’t give up on finding the aids. Check not only his room and clothes, but any shared shower rooms, furniture, lounges, etc. Talk to the director and all the staff directly in a non- judgmental way. This happens in ALF all the time and I doubt that the facility could cover the loss. My dad lost his twice. First, I found them in a stack of towels in the “shower room”. Second time a nurse had taken them with the charger case to the nurse prep station since my dad couldn’t keep them charged. The nurse forgot to tell anyone or leave a note before she left for the weekend. Good luck.
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Reply to HonorAble
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I think most of the missing items are due to confusion not theft or people shopping. If it's expensive use air pods to track them.
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Reply to AnnetteDe
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MissesJ Aug 25, 2025
AirPods? AirPods are wireless headphones.
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My late mother in an AL discarded at least three cellular phone charger cables. My brother and his wife finally tied her phone charger cable to the nightstand to solve the problem.
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Reply to Patathome01
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I remember my mom finding a very expensive emerald which I turned in. I only left for mom some costume jewelry and she lost the need for earings. Surely there are resident "SHOPPERS"
I wrote mom's room number on all of her clothing labels and most came back. Save some of her clothes in your home for exchanges and replacement. It might be best to just have a weeks worth of clothes depending on how laundry gets done. It helps reduce the resident clothing choices if they are indecisive
I aso caution about hearing aids. My mom threw hers away. Her brain stopped processing hearing. They may help in early stages. At one point, i kept a hearing device in her drawers where I fully used when visiting for our conversations. Or doctor visits.
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Reply to MACinCT
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My mother's hearing aids have gone missing several times. The first ones were $5,000 and too expensive to replace. After trying several cheaper ones that went missing or quit working, I finally found a pair for $300 from MDHearing that have been great for her hearing, and also I bought replacement/repair insurance on them for $19 a month. Customer Service at MDHearing has been very good both times I have needed to ask them for help and had questions. Yes, it is expensive to have hearing aids, but Mom's geriatric specialist told me years ago that hearing aids and eyeglasses are essential to better cognitive health because of the information they send to your brain about your surroundings. Mom has Alzheimer's and dementia and is on hospice. At 94 years old, she is not going to get better, but to look at her happy face if she watches a TV program she can see and hear to enjoy, or participate in a group activity, it is worth the expense.

And in answer to your question, I always report missing hearing aids to the Director. I think only once or twice they found a missing one, but never offered to replace anything. Mostly clothes or sheets/towels go missing, and nothing is ever reimbursed. I label everything, and return things that are not Mom's that end up in her room.
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Reply to Lee188
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Probably not, but mention it to admin staff, and ask if there's a lost and found you can look through.
Label everything, and put a GPS tracking device on expensive items.
Consider some clever way of keeping things put, like Patathome's idea. Tie it down, if you can.
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Reply to CaringWifeAZ
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Were the hearing aides listed under items brought in ? They should reimburse you since they’re expensive! See Social worker asap & report them as missing. Good luck!
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Reply to CaregiverL
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In my experience no. It's very hard with memory issues to keep track of valuables, this is why they discourage them. The staff is a higher ratio but they cannot watch mom/dad 24/7 and what they do or where they put things. My FIL has lost so much cash, wallets, watches, glasses etc. Things he wants to hold onto because they make him feel he still has control. We have told them we will not send cash anymore, or gift cards etc. We tell him when he asks, we will get right on that. The reality is if we send any more it will be phony, we end up being called on it as responsible for explaining where his $$ goes and that it needs to be responsibly spent. We plan to ask them to allow him the Fake cash to put into an envelope to spend at their cafe, and we will basically pay the tab for any he turns in there to buy things he desires vs lost $$. Possibly stolen $$. Who really knows. He does have a few shady relatives and we trust them a lot less than his carers TBT.
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Reply to MickiLyn
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MickiLyn Aug 25, 2025
I forgot cell phones. he went through 4-5 of those his first 6-9 months and we gave up.
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