Hi Everyone, 

Yesterday, on my way home from work, there was a posting on the signs around Houston for a missing elderly man from San Antonio.  It makes me so sad to see those postings.  I sure hope they found him safe and sound.

One year our family was vacationing on St. George Island, Fl and one of the other vacationers lost their father.  He just up and walked out of thier vacation home rental.  Our family went out to help hunt him down (he was eventually found safe), but it sure did scare us that it could happen to our Dad.

One of the things that our family feared was that our Dad would get out of the house and just wander around the neighborhood like the man did when we were on vacation.  When Mom and Dad lived in Florida, and Mom was in the Nursing Home, sometimes Dad would stand out in the middle of their yard and holler for Mom in the middle of the night.  He would just call out her name and she never did come home to him.  It just broke my heart to see him that way.

Just a few short months we moved them to Houston where they were together.  When we got them here we really worried about Dad getting outside and lost in the area.  I went on-line and found a bunch of high priced "patient alarm" systems, but that just didn't feel right.  We ended up in putting wind chimes on all the doors.  Dad never could sneak out without someone knowing that he was out and about. 

Across the stree from us there is an elderly man who has Alzheimer's and his daughter has alerted all the neighbors that he is not supposed to go past the stop sign at the end of the street.  She asked us that if we found him wandering, to lead him back home.  Great Idea to alert your neighbors to your elder's conditions and ask for help to keep them safe.

It turned out that we never did have to worry about him leaving the house, because Dad was never going to leave his beloved wife.

Your elder care tip of the day:  A low cost solution to knowing if your elder has left your home is attach a noise maker like a wind chime to the door.  Another low cost solution are those door bells that you put a gizmo on one door frame and the matching gizmo on the door and when the door opens an electronic noise is emitted. 

I hope everyone has a blessed day and enjoy your elder while they are with you even if they drive you crazy.

Mary