Me, my wife, and children have taken on the task of caring for my Mom. She was not being cared for very well in a long term facility. I am a Registered Nurse and my wife is a former LPN. Her and her famliy have been involved with assisted living for many years. This said, we are not new to caring for people. My concern is at times we may need to run a short errand and find it hard to find someone come and stay with Mom. She has had Alzheimers for 9 years or so, is bed/chair ridden. She does not turn in bed. Now the question, would we be wrong to leave her alone for short periods of time in the advent of not finding help?

Yeah, that's the problem becoming a caregiver for someone with alzheimers. Personally, I couldn't do it. All the what-if's pop into my brain - what if, someone broke in, what if a fire started, what if .... my mental list just goes on and on. We often had to forego errands and things cause there was no one to watch mom. Just makes the job that much harder. Best of luck.

Your mom is lucky to have such a caring family, one that has taken a very hard journey to care of her. The dilemma you are faced with is not uncommon. There is a lot to keep in mind with regards to leaving a person in late stages Alzheimer’s home alone. As LittleRed had mentioned, any one emergency could occur that is unpredictable and if your mom is helpless alone at home it could be devastating; fires, home intruders, a coughing fit or other health issue, etc. One way to look at this situation is to think about another situation similar to this. It is safety risk and in many cases illegal to leave a young helpless child home alone; an infant in a crib, or a child who does not know how to dial 9-11 or get help if needed. Your mom is in a similar situation. She cannot get help if she needs it and relies on others to care for her at all times. If a fire were to occur she could do anything to protect herself and/or find help.

Legally there may also be issues that the local Adult Protective agency could help you sort out. If something were to happen to your mom when no one was around, even if just for a short 20 minutes, there would be liability and neglect questions and concerns from certain local authorities. I would give your local Adult Protective Agency a call and ask them about this situation to learn more.

I encourage you to explore other alternatives when you are in need of a quick sitter to watch your mom. For example, calling upon a neighbor to stop by for an hour while you are at the grocery story, or someone from church could come once a week for 30 minutes while you go to the Post Office. The Alzheimer’s Association has a website program that helps families plan for the daily routine for care. Losta Helping hands is a free private group calendar that helps caregivers, friends, family members and other volunteers coordinate the dates and times when they will help with caregiving duties, such as preparing meals, providing rides or running errands. Go to http://www.alz.org/we_can_help...sa_helping_hands.asp and create your own calendar to share.

I would also encourage you to check your local Area Agency on Aging to see if there happen to be any volunteer programs you could utilize. Some are called Friendly Visitors. Such programs are set up to have volunteers visit older adults at their homes for little to no cost. Go to www.eldercare.gov to locate your local Area Agency on Aging.

Please do not hesitate to call our helpline and ask any further questions about this or other situation. We are here to help anytime day or night call 800.272.3900.

Bests,