Advocacy

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How to advocate for a loved one’s needs in a positive way? 

rosie1 reports that her mother, who has dementia, is being transitioned into a nursing home full time. The director of the facility made the “suggestion” that the family is too “high maintenance.”  Because Rosie’s brother reported the remark to Rosie, she is examining her own behaviors and questioning why she may give the impression of being over-bearing.  She asks how she can build a positive relationship while continuing to advocate for her mother.

My response:

Advocacy is an important part of your responsibilities as a caregiver.  It’s a matter of striking the proper balance.  I have had experience as a caregiver advocate, and I write about the topic in my book, “What to Do about Mama?”

When my mother-in-law was in a nursing home for rehabilitation after a pelvic fracture, she would press her call button when she had to use the bathroom. (She had not yet been cleared to go to the bathroom alone.)  She would then wait and wait and wait, until she could wait no longer, and would then have to urinate or have a bowel movement in her diaper.

I spoke to the social worker about the issue and was told that my mother-in-law was so “quiet.”  My point exactly.  When a “quiet” person rings the bell because she has to go—you can count on the fact that she has to go.  Why should a mentally competent and continent woman have to suffer the degradation of soiling themselves?  I was told she would be put on a 15-minute watch, but I replied that was hardly necessary.  She just needed to be helped in a timely fashion when she pressed her call button to go to the bathroom (something she did not do often).

The need to be an advocate is not necessarily a criticism of the facility where a parent is placed.  It’s just that it is easy for something to slip by or for mistakes to be made, and caregivers must be on guard to prevent problems, misunderstandings, and omissions. To be an effective advocate, you need to educate yourself about different aspects of caregiving, health, care plans, and medication.

One helpful tool is to develop a personal profile to be posted in your loved one’s room that provides information about his or her personality, preferences, and interests.  (It’s a nice touch to include a picture.)  This gives staff more understanding of their charge as an individual and provides topics for conversation.  Personal Profiles personalize the individual to staff and are also great conversation starters.

Also, when placing your loved one in any type of living facility, get to know the staff and establish a positive relationship with them. No matter how good the facility is, there will be situations that require your advocacy. The better the relationship you have established, the better the cooperation you will (hopefully) find.

As one of the caregiver’s stated in my book:  “I found that my primary role, once my father was admitted to the nursing home, was to model the behavior my mother and I expected of the staff when we were not there.  By that I mean how we spoke with him, how we honored his requests and anticipated his needs, how we treated him with a great measure of kindness and love, respect and dignity. It didn’t take the staff long (all three shifts) to grow to love him and treat him as well as we did every time we were there.  It also helped that we recognized the hard work the nursing staff did every minute of their shifts by taking over for them with my father or by bringing them little treats from time to time. Always, every night before we left, we thanked them for their care of him.”

Barbara Matthews