Tagging for alzheimers and dementia sufferers

shillelagh · 27-12-2007, 18:06

BBC NEWS | Health | Charity backs dementia taggings

The alzheimers society has come out in favour of 'tagging' people with alzheimers and dementia. Im in two minds yes you will find them if they go missing, but they are people they arent dogs or cats etc. What do you think? Maybe in the future if by chance you end up with alzheimers or dementia would you like to be tagged.

BERNADETTE · 27-12-2007, 18:14

I can see the benefits to this, as one lady said her husband used to just wander off and she could spend hours worrying about him. Tagging would be beneficial to both the carer and the person being cared for.

Gayle · 27-12-2007, 18:17

Absolutely, without a doubt - I would tag someone if they were suffering with alzheimers. I would agree to being tagged myself as well if I started showing signs of it.

I know of at least two elderly ladies (neither of whom are with us now) who had alzheimers and both of them, at different times obviously, went walkabout and scared the living daylights out of everyone.

kathleen_firth · 27-12-2007, 18:22

i suppose i do agree with some of the points about it
but then again i also think its a little bit degrading and maybe embarrasing for some people.

steeljack · 27-12-2007, 18:31

Surely this is the easy way out and an indictment of a poor system of caring for seniors, where the hell is family responsibility ?
Seems to me the folks in favour of this are folks in their 30s/40s who seem to forget that the people they would like to tag are the same ones who wiped their asses for 3 yrs ....

BERNADETTE · 27-12-2007, 18:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by steeljack

Surely this is the easy way out and an indictment of a poor system of caring for seniors, where the hell is family responsibility ?
Seems to me the folks in favour of this are folks in their 30s/40s who seem to forget that the people they would like to tag are the same ones who wiped their asses for 3 yrs ....

If you read the article one of the people in favour was a wife. You can't stop these people wandering but you can make sure they can be found

Doug · 27-12-2007, 18:37

Like the Alzheimers Socity I agree that limited use is in the best intrests of the individual, those that are currently in the early stages will or should be able to make the choice themselves.

Gayle · 27-12-2007, 19:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by steeljack

Surely this is the easy way out and an indictment of a poor system of caring for seniors, where the hell is family responsibility ?
Seems to me the folks in favour of this are folks in their 30s/40s who seem to forget that the people they would like to tag are the same ones who wiped their asses for 3 yrs ....

I disagree with this because this is the exact opposite of what often happens - people are often determined to look after their loved ones to beyond the point where they can actually cope. These people, often elderly themselves, refuse to let their loved ones go into care homes and insist on looking after them themselves. It can take a simple lapse of awareness and someone with alzheimers can be out of the door and half way across town, usually whilst the carer thinks they're in the toilet or asleep. Tagging would be ideal in this situation.

WillowTheWhisp · 27-12-2007, 20:11

I agree with Gayle. I know someone whose elderly father has Alzheimer's and his wife was determined to look after him at home as in his more lucid moments that was where he wanted to be, but he would get up in the middle of the night and go walk about. If she locked the doors he would climb through the window because he thought he was in prison and needed to escape. It wasn't until the next morning often that she would realise he was missing. She got locks on the windows, even got bars on the upstairs windows because she was afraid he would climb through them and fall and break his neck but of course that only confirmed his conviction that he was in prison. He would be found wandering about outside in the rain wearing just pyjamas and no slippers.

So where was the daughter in all this? She couldn't have the father in her home because he refused to believe she was his daughter and flatly refused to have anything to do with her. To him his daughter was 20 years younger than this strange woman who wanted to kidnap him. The daughter herself isn't even in the best of health. His mind may well be failing but he is still a big strong man and will fight anyone if he thinks they are lying to him or trying to lock him up.

When he has got out and gone wandering his family have been worried sick until he has been found again. He is now in residential care because the family are no longer able to cope. Knowing everything they have been through I would not dream of criticising them for reaching this decision which wasn't arrived at lightly.

People talk about tagging taking away the person's dignity. The Alzheimer's has already done that. The tag will help to restore some of that dignity if they can be found before they do anything embarrassing or dangerous.

shillelagh · 27-12-2007, 20:12

Like i said i'm in two minds about it. Mainly because i couldnt see me attaching a bracelet or leg tag to my mum and then making sure she was sitting in her chair. I had a good way of keeping my mum in which was take the key for the front door and tying a piece of washing line over the gate at the top which meant she couldnt reach up and open it but yet everyone else could even my niece who was 11 at the time. You do find away round it. Its hard looking after someone who has dementia and you have to make changes to everything you do and the house.

Willow i still looked after my mum even though she called me a prostitute to my face, she said i wasnt her daughter, i was more trouble than what it was worth having me living here.

steeljack · 27-12-2007, 20:21

Sorry Gayle , but it seems to me just one more step down the road to 'big brother' where the state watches and controls everything , the idea may be noble in concept but it is just an excuse for the failure of society to take of the elderly . Akin to drugging children with Ritalin because they are rumbustious , its just sticking an elastoplast over the problem an easy way out
You answer your own argument when you say " These people, often elderly themselves, refuse to let their loved ones go into care homes and insist on looking after them themselves." thats where the younger family members have to take some responsibility and as Shillelagh says "Its hard looking after someone who has dementia and you have to make changes to everything you do and the house.

Neil · 27-12-2007, 20:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by shillelagh

Like i said i'm in two minds about it.

Maybe we should tag schizophrenic's as well then

WillowTheWhisp · 27-12-2007, 20:28

I suppose a lot of it depends on the person with Alzheimers too. In Shillelagh's case she says her mother couldn't reach up to the washing line tied over the gate so that worked for her, but what if the person with Alzheimer's is taller and stronger than you? What if they can fight you and subdue you?

Personally if it was me I think I'd rather be tagged and know I could be found if I got lost. It's not going to be something ugly and prominenent like a thing for an ASBO surely? We can tag dogs and cats. Some of us who have serious medical conditions wear SOS jewellry to inform in case of accidents what medicataion we are on. Is that an indignity too?

steeljack · 27-12-2007, 20:38

the tags used on animals are skin implants which require scanning after the animal has been found they do not find the animals , the tags suggested for people are tracking tags similar to the ones used with ABSOs , I wonder if the Home Security Business doesn't have a hand in this suggestion as a way of increasing business by offering a tracking service for your nearest and dearest for only £50 a month

shillelagh · 27-12-2007, 20:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

Maybe we should tag schizophrenic's as well then

Why do you want to know where i am at any given time?

Even spug knows ring the mobile and he'll find me and he knows then where i am!!!