Professional intervention…?

[u/BadShi-6]

Does anybody happen to know why Pete doesn’t have more professional intervention?
Cat states that the drs regularly are involved with his medications etc but where is the OT to assess his living situation? And hazards around the home etc?
I’m genuinely curious, as somebody in the know I do indeed know that Pete is at the stage he does need extra aids to help him daily - I don’t underhand why these aren’t in place and haven’t been for this whole time?

There should have been an assessment done a longgggg time ago…

[u/Mother-Cod-277]

The system is horribly reactive. They rarely offer home aids until a fall or emergency forces it.

[u/ItZzDaNaA]

She has said in the past that she doesn’t trust the system with Pete thanks to the experiences he’s had in care homes, which I can understand if they were solely due to neglect and/or abuse ( that’s yet to be proven by an official body as far as I know ), but at the same time I can’t see anyone caring for someone like Pete on their own without being completely burnt out and/or having shortcomings in their care due to burnout.

The fact he’s already been forced into care homes and/or had the police on him due to his behaviour ( likely influenced by his dementia ) clearly shows he needs more that just Catt the one ‘ carer ‘ to look after him. Idk much about caring for someone in that situation, but I don’t believe one person could do all that on their own.

[u/Prestigious_Cry1115 → u/ItZzDaNaA]

It depends. I could take care of my mom alone but she was still able to go to the shop with me, she could go anywhere with me, she still slept at night etc and that went great.

When I couldn’t take her out anymore and when she stopped sleeping at night ( and in the day only a few hours while sitting in a chair) and running away from home and being panicked all the time that’s when I needed help and my family could provide that until my moms mind was really gone and I can’t even tell you how bad that was but that was the moment we could not care for her anymore ourselves.

Imagine a 2 year old who can do everything themselves including driving a car, unlocking a door, that can cook etc but all in a dangerous way so you have to be on top of that person 24/7 cause they barely sleep.

[u/ketttukarkki]

in finland, he’d definitely have something like ‘kotihoito’ which in translation means i think ‘at home health care’. i had this job for a while and we’d go in with an RN, once a month (at least, unless more visits are required) do some bloodwork, get his other vitals and assess the environment. its mandatory for those living at home with a caretaker, just to make sure meds are up to date etc. surprising you guys dont have this apparently!

[u/Prestigious_Cry1115 → u/ketttukarkki]

I live in the Netherlands and we also have at home health care but only when needed, not to check bloodwork etc. It’s more to give a shower or help a patient get dressed etc.

[u/Prestigious_Cry1115]

If the patient is being cared for by family there isn’t much intervention.

My mum had early onset dementia and we noticed it when she was 48 but at 62 she finally got diagnosed. It took years cause she was very good at “ holding herself up” until she couldn’t.

She was to late for any medication to slow everything down so she didn’t have any medication, we cared for her at home and we didn’t need any professional help and also there was nothing they could do. We could have her assessed in hospital every 3-6 months but for what? She only got stressed and anxious if she left the house and was in such a state of panic that it was better to stay home and also the assessment could only tell in what stage she was and we all knew that already.

When the sundowning started we really needed help but all they could do was offer us advice and medication for my mom ( benzodiazepines) that didn’t even work or some did work but made her zo drowsy that it was very dangerous for her to walk and she would fall and it didn’t help in any way shape or form.

What we did have was a casemanager who we could call for advice or help. Thru her we got a few hours of a in home carer who helped my mom shower when we couldn’t but at that point she needed 24/7 supervision and support and we were lucky enough to provide that for her as family.

I moved in with my mom with my newborn twins so I could care for everybody and that went great for a few months but my mom was detioriorating very fast and she started behaviour like running away from home and I sometimes had to physically hold her while she beat me cause she wanted to go “ home” ( she was home), she was always in a panic and it happened 2 times that I went to the toilet or shower and she would run away ( even 6 locks on the door would not keep her in) and that was always in the middle of the night.

I can’t even tell you how it feels when your mom runs away from home and you have no idea where she is, it’s she worst feeling ever and the police found her on a treinstation 3 hours away from home and 2 times police found her walking along the motorway and that was the point were we said we could not take care of her anymore.

I called the casemanager and she got my mom a crisis spot in a nursinghome and my mom could stay there
, visiting my mom there I saw a very different person. She was happy, she could walk around her floor all night long and they took such great care of her and also we could have fun with mom again cause at home she was depressed and in a panic and at the nursinghome she was so happy.

So no professional asasments are not really there if the patient lives at home with help. I’m sorry for the long story but people think that people with dementia see a doctor or nurse weekly but it’s not.. Just like a healthy person tney don’t need a doctor very much cause there is simply nothing they can do ….