Hi Ron I'm with Jody on this one. I wrote recently about my experience with my grandfather who had dementia. He also fell (and ended up being out overnight, in a ditch, on a December night) and after that was understandably Terrified of falling. He fell another couple of times after that too. He was particularly scared on stairs. What we found (occasionally) worked was motivation with something else, e.g. food. What I mean is that sometimes it would take some other really strong desire to overcome the fear and enable him to walk.
However, when the client is That Scared of falling, and due to the dementia doesn't really understand their fear, it seems to me that the most humane thing we can do as therapists is help the family devise ways to minimise the occasions when that fear will present whilst still keeping the client mobile and addressing all personal care needs etc. Quite a challenge in itself! I guess that might involve moving a bed downstairs to avoid the stairs etc. Zimmer frames can also help reduce anxiety when mobilising as they provide something for the client to support themselves on. It's also something right in front of them when they're looking down, so it 'breaks up' the distance to the ground. Hope that provides some food for thought. Merry Christmas to everyone. Nessa ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 4:49 AM Subject: [OTnow] Re: Help w/Client/Jody's gut reaction Ron, my gut feeling, for what its worth (and I have worked in home health for 20 years) is that you are not going to get far any time soon with remediation of underlying issues, and that you would help the client/family more by pursuing adaptive methods and equipment for her bathroom and transfer needs, and also by advocating for her that the health care system continue to explore whether pain ( due to hip fracture or other cause) is causing this ehavior. -- Jody > Should we > continue > > working on remediation of underlying issues or begin adaptive strategies > to > > decrease the family's burden and promote the client's safety _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, visit: http://otnow.com/mailman/listinfo/otlist_otnow.com The OTnow Mail Archive: www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ===============================================
