This blog is about life with my husband who was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's and Frontal Lobe Dementia in 2008. He was 64 at the time although now, knowing more about the disease, Alzheimer's was present many, many years ago, which is why early detection is so important. As you read the blog the character "Al" that I created in 2008, represents the way that Alzheimer's is invading our daily lives.
There is an archive tab further down the page that starts from the beginning of our journey.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Living with Bob and "Al"

Emergency Room Visit final thoughts

Sheri knows that nurses and doctors are amazing people to do what they do everyday. Every person at the hospital was caring and friendly. She knows that in emergency circumstances the physical well being of the patient is first and for most, and she knows that even with the best of education these things would still happen. What she thinks might be able to change is to make sure if some one comes out of a locked Alzheimer's ward where they require 24 hour supervision that there is some kind of coding system, maybe a red , yellow, or green dot, that represents this persons cognitive ability such as red means total assist and so forth. This info would be on whatever they sent to the hospital with him or pinned to his shirt or something like that. Then the same color dot goes up on the board with their name. I mean a large dot easily recognizable to all that enter the room.
This is just what has come to mind since this experience. One might think that "well this person was handed over to a medical facility, 24 hours hour supervision is their whole purpose." As you can see from the long recount of this experience a person with these types of impairment, 24 hour supervision means something very different. Sheri know many doctors and nurses and she loves and respects them all. This is just an area that needs more education and with the expected increase in these diseases, it needs to be soon.

 

1 comment:

  1. I agree, Sheri. Education and processes are key. Medical professionals unfamiliar with dementia just don't understand how vulnerable these patients are in every situation. I'm so glad Bob is okay after this episode.

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