Lost keys. We're on our 4th set in 6 months. Any suggestions?

Take the keys and have a dozen sets made or budget 35.00 monthly for replacement.

Seriously, keys hanging on your chest can be uncomfortable. I would find her a leather key holder. This is worn around the neck and the ringed keys go inside a flap inside the leather. Much easier to wear.

You can also put her name on the back and bling up the front to make it like a piece of jewelry, maybe that would deter her.

Several times staff found my mom's keys at AL. They also did give her a new key. I don't think they charged. She was only one locking her apt door. If I were you, I would take your mom's key. It will be the first in a long line of confiscations to come.
It seems keys would be hard for seniors to keep track of. Seems AL is using this as an income stream. Lol. When moved to acute AL there was no key. MC has no keys.
Does she hide things? Look in her shoes, inside socks, in blankets. Hard to believe they are just gone. Hard to believe staff has never found.

You say your mother has dementia.....and is losing her keys continuously. Is she in Memory Care AL? If so, she shouldn't even need keys....the CG should be able to let her into her apartment.

These lost keys are all in her apartment somewhere.....go look for them. My mother claimed everything was stolen until I'd go into her place and find it.

If need be and if possible, make copies of the keys as suggested.

The AL needs to make accommodations for residents with dementia, that's my opinion on the matter. It's only natural to run into this situation over and OVER again for admin, so their remedy is to keep charging $35 a pop? My mom's AL and MC gave me, the POA a set of keys also to have available. Do you get an extra set?

Best of luck

My mom locks her door religiously so when I took her keys to “get them fixed” I told her to not lock herself out. After a week, she didn’t ask about the keys and locks the door when she is inside. The staff all can get in because they have keys. I was planning to give her a key that didn’t work so I could take her key but this plan to get her key fixed worked.

Make your keys outside in any hardware store, including Home Depot for a few bucks each. Or buy a couple of "Tiles" or key trackers on Amazon.

On Amazon they have a device called Tile, and they are little squares that you attached to anything that you might find that might go missing. We have them on my MIL's purse & keys! They work!:) good luck

My dad was in AL and would lose his keys and his wallet. I bought the Tiles from Amazon. There's one that would fit discreetly in his wallet. I had to track both numerous times so the tiles were worth every penny! With his dementia he had a tendency to blame his caregivers or staff so this saved a lot of grief!

FYI...some mentioned Memory Care. In my dad's case they said they wouldn't recommend it because he was too "active" and mobile and he would disrupt the other residents in MC.

I assume there is a split ring that she takes them off of. Just have someone solder that ring closed.

Do you live local to her and can easily visit her? Then take her existing set and go get multiple copies made at HomeDepot or any hardware store.

Will the facility allow her to keep a key lock box on her door? If so then the next time she loses them you can talk her through opening the box and getting the spare. Then walk her through dropping the key into a jar labeled SPARE KEY. You can retrieve the key and replace it in the box at next time you visit.

If you aren't local to her, then see if you can supply the facility with privately made keys, if they allow this, or have the admin leave a secret spare resting above her doorframe where it can't be seen. I hope you can find a solution that works!

I’m not completely familiar with Tiles but wonder if the fact that she takes them individually OFF the lanyard holder makes that device impossible to use . Therefore she needs something that prevents her from removing the keys - like perhaps having the key ring that holds them on to the lanyard melded together so she can’t just twirl them off -and also hopefully that affixed in a way that she can’t remove the entire key ring. As a backup I’d also make duplicates - nowadays you do that yourself in many places so the instructions not to copy I think are moot.