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Our first selection of hints
comes from carer Charlie Pitts, who has been taking part in our
Carers' Course. In his own words, they represent "just one or two
things that I have done to make our lives easier with my wife's memory
problem."
- First, I bought one of the
radio type doorbells so that my wife could call me at any time in the
house or in the garden or in the shed. I carry the receiver in my pocket
and my wife carries the press button on a cord around her neck so we
are in constant touch. The units have a range of approximately 50 metres,
generally more than enough for the normal house and garden. At the moment,
these units cost around £14.50
- I have put an extension
'phone by the chair where my wife usually sits and what I have done
is to put my mobile number on all the ten memory buttons so that all
my wife has to do is to lift the receiver and press any one of the buttons
and my mobile will ring. When I'm not with my wife, our daughter stays
with her. But people with dementia of any sort always want to be in
touch with their Carer or they will feel lost and probably panic. This
way she knows that I'm always in touch.
- My wife has to use a walking
stick and so do I. So I put brightly coloured sticky tape along part
of my wife's stick so that she always knows which is hers.
- One thing that is very common
with dementia is that people lose things all the time. My wife loses
her purse usually at least once a day and sometimes a lot more often!
So I purchased a couple of key ring units that bleep and flash when
you whistle. Now I just walk around the house whistling and the purse
comes to light. I fixed the key ring to the outside of her purse. Problem
solved!
- On electric points that
have to be left switched on, e.g. the freezer, the fridge, the security
light, what I have done is to put red insulating tape on all that have
to be left on so that my wife knows that anything red must be left alone.
Sometimes she forgets and asks me what the red tape is for, so I explain
it again. Another problem solved!
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