As the Alzheimer disease progresses, you will notice that the patient will become more childlike and constantly seems to be into everything. Unlike a child, however, you cannot teach them fear of danger through reward and punishment. The only thing you will be able to do is to take precautions to insure that the patient does not hurt himself/herself or does not place others at risk.

DEADBOLTS To prevent the patient from leaving the house unnoticed, it will eventually become necessary to install deadbolt locks on all doors leading to the outside. These deadbolt locks will have to be of the double key variety and the inside key placed in a place of security and easy access.

MEDICATIONS AND/OR POISONS Since the patient will get to the point of placing anything in his/her mouth, it is necessary that all medicines and poisonous substances be stored in a safe place.Most variety stores carry child protection devices to secure cabinet doors. Alternatives that work quite well are the use of a shoe string, small rope, or any other material which can be easily tied to the cabinet handles.

HEATING/COOLING THERMOSTATS If the thermostats are easily accessible to the patient, you may find yourself roasting or freezing (A thermostat set too high could cause the heating system to overheat and thereby cause a fire). For this reason it will become necessary to secure these devices or insert "stops" to limit the range of movement of the thermostat. This may be accomplished by installing a cover over the thermostat or by using screws or some other device as a "stopping device".

STOVE KNOBS Stove knobs should be removed when the stove is not in actual use. This will prevent the patient from turning the knobs on and leaving burners, eyes or the oven on unnoticed.

SHARP OBJECTS When most people think of sharp objects, they think of knives, scissors or similar objects. It should be brought to your attention that there are other sharp objects around the house such as, for example, fireplace utensils and firedogs. As the disease progresses, the patient becomes unsteady on his/her feet and subject to falling. (We experienced a near tragedy when Mama fell against the fireplace in our livingroom while under the "supervision" of a CNA, and punctured her back with a firedog. It missed her lungs by less than an inch. She was hospitalized for several days).

COOKING The Alzheimer's patient should be kept away from the cooking area while meals are being prepared. Since the patient loses sense of danger, he/she may attempt to place his/her hand into a hot cooking utensil or could spill hot liquids.

Uncooked meats should be kept out of reach of the Alzheimer's patient as he/she may attempt to eat it raw. The refrigerator should also be secured in order to prevent the patient from leaving the doors open and causing the food to spoil. This is an inconvenience, but necessary.

SITTING POSITION In the second or third phase of Alzheimer's the patient may have difficulty in sitting in a chair or on a couch without falling. A handy device to use is an automobile seatbelt installed on the chair to prevent the patient from falling out of the chair. We made a type of support out of Mama's walker which could be used either in a easy chair or couch. You may view this device by going to our "Homemade Devices" page. The automobile seatbelt may also be used as a temporary restraining device if it becomes necessary for the caregiver to leave the room for a short period of time.

BATHS AND SHAMPOOS It will eventually become dangerous to both the patient and the caregiver to attempt to give the patient a bath in the shower or bathtub. The patient will have to be given a sponge bath. Shampoos presents another problem. We solved this problem by making a device which could be used with the patient lying on the bed. You may view this device by going to our "Homemade Devices" page.