Mom with dementia is in rehab. She can't have visitors for a week. She needs the physical care but her mental care needs to be home. Advice?

If it is tolerable - rehab in facility is a much better option - especially if you think there is any chance she won't cooperate with exercises with you when PT and OT aren't in your home. The problem with in home PT and OT is that they are only there a short time. And only once or twice a week. With in facility rehab, it is usually daily and sometimes twice a day, they have a variety of equipment that you aren't going to have in your home to use and they have multiple therapists in one location. In your home they are going to need you to help her on the off days with exercises - if she is non-compliant - she isn't going to make nearly the progress. For a lot of people who would be non-compliant at home - the biggest reason they are compliant in rehab is because they want to go home - so it is a great motivator! So if there is any chance at all that she can tolerate that week I encourage the in facility rehab.

It is a hard situation, no doubt. The nurses should hopefully be able to handle her dementia. She may not be happy while she is there but she needs the rehab. Doing it at home is NOT the same. They will come to the house maybe twice a week for an hour and you will be alone with her the rest of the week. That is too much.

Went through a similar situation with my mom. Had a knee replacement, went to rehab. She doesn't have dementia but some pretty good cognitive decline and with the anesthesia(sp?) and the pain meds, she was a mess. I was not allowed in due to stupid covid so it was really hard for her. BUT I needed her to be able to do certain things physically before I was willing to have her come back to my house. She needed to be able to get up a couple stairs into the house and she needed to be able to get herself to the bathroom from the living room and from her bedroom.

So, though it was really hard on her mentally, I set a firm boundary and swallowed my worries and crossed my fingers that the staff was doing OK by her. They did OK, but no better than that. It was frustrating. BUT worth it cuz she could be fairly independent when she got home.

That week you can't visit may seem long, but you will both survive it.

Why is she is rehab? Just to get her strength back after a hospital stay? If so, tell the DON you want to have therapy done at home because of her Dementia. If the doctor at the rehab won't sign off on it, then talk to Moms PCP. My Mom was in rehab for 18 days. If I had realized how things were going to go, I would have declined rehab and had her therapy done at her AL.

Remember, rehab is a choice. My GF had her leg amputated and refused to go to rehab. (Juvenile diabetic and at 60 had seen enough of hospitals and rehabs) No, was not a wise decision on her part but she had the choice.

Unfortunately you can't have both at this time. If rehab is what she needs now, then she must be there. Yes, folks with dementia, don't do well with a change in their environment, but sometimes we just don't have a choice. She will hopefully adjust. And it's a good thing that she can't have visitors for a week, as that will give her time to adjust.
And who knows, she may just adjust quite well and want to stay. Best wishes.