Adult Foster Care
Urgent Need for Memory Care after Hospital Stay Causes Family Caregiver Stress Don’t Wait for a Crisis to Make a Move!
A call came from the discharge planner at the hospital in Hillsboro. They had a patient that needed 24x7 supervision who couldn't return to his home and needed to find a memory care facility as he was an "elopement risk" (they were worried he would walk out the front door and wander away). The hospital case manager wanted to discharge him as quickly as possible and asked us to help find him a room in memory care in Portland as it wasn't safe to allow him to return home...
There were lots of signs he (and his wife) needed more assistance. The daughters had already decided the next time he was in the hospital would be the final straw, it would be time to move. While usually we can find the perfect place for him to move, this time every memory care building was full and most had a waiting list.
Our number one recommendation is don't wait until there's a crisis to make a move. When it's a crisis you are stuck with what's available and it may not be what you really want. The senior in crisis won't get input on which place he/she wants, family will have to make all the decisions. They're already feeling overwhelmed with all that's going on with their loved ones and the pressure of making a quick decision to meet hospital discharge expectations is extremely stressful! Continue reading
Our number one recommendation is don't wait until there's a crisis to make a move. When it's a crisis you are stuck with what's available and it may not be what you really want. The senior in crisis won't get input on which place he/she wants, family will have to make all the decisions. They're already feeling overwhelmed with all that's going on with their loved ones and the pressure of making a quick decision to meet hospital discharge expectations is extremely stressful! Continue reading From Assisted Living to Adult Foster Care
Sometimes an adult foster care home is a better option. Mr. T is an 85 year-old blind man who was living in an assisted living community. Because of his vision issues, his dementia, and his being confined to a wheelchair, it seemed assisted living just wasn't the right environment for him. He was not participating in activities with the other residents, he stayed in his apartment most of the time, and he simply required too much care compared to the other residents in the community...
His daughter contacted us to see what other options were available for her dad. She loves her dad and wanted him to be happy and feel safe and secure in his living space. What seemed to be a lovely assisted living community when she moved him in, turned out to be the wrong environment for her father. So we started looking at much smaller senior living communities: adult foster care homes. 
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Continue reading Hospice Patient Moves to Adult Foster Home
Mr. V was an 87 year-old man with Parkinson's dementia, heart failure, and general failure to thrive. He had been living in an assisted living community for several years, and used to be quite active, but his health was declining rapidly to the point where he was refusing to eat or drink. He would alternate between sleeping for hours on end, to being very agitated and trying to get up, despite being a considerable fall risk...
We found Mr. V a wonderful adult foster care home, where he received 24 hour care by an awake staff. Hospice followed him to his new home, and cared for him there. It was a much better-suited environment for him, and although the costs were still quite high with 24-hour care, it was much less expensive than having the round-the-clock in-home caregiver.
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