Читать книгу Protect Your Elderly Parents - Lynne Butler - Страница 17

Your elderly parent might need a guardian to assist with personal- and health-care decisions if he or she —

• is unable to safely prepare meals for himself or herself, leaves pots and pans on the stove to boil dry, repeatedly scalds himself or herself with hot water, starts kitchen fires, or has problems remembering how to carry out other daily tasks that used to be familiar;

• becomes disoriented when he or she leaves home, forgets his or her address, or forgets how to get home;

• fails to recognize people he or she has known for a long time;

• is unable to maintain personal hygiene on his or her own (e.g., bathing, toileting, dental care, grooming) or is unaware that hygiene is a problem;

• is unable to manage a condition or illness on his or her own, forgets to take essential medication or treatment, or because of memory loss, takes too much medicine;

• is unable to safely transfer from a wheelchair to bed, toilet, etc., on his or her own;

• neglects medical or dental appointments, does not know how to make appointments, or is unable to get to appointments on his or her own;

• forgets to shop for food, toiletries, and other essentials or is physically unable to shop for essentials on his or her own;

• is unable to maintain his or her home in a safe, hygienic manner, neglects to repair broken windows or appliances, hoards items (e.g., newspapers) to the point that they become a hazard, fails to take out garbage regularly, or neglects to clean up after pets;

• often puts things in the wrong places, for example, putting the telephone in the refrigerator;

• is experiencing more and more memory loss;

• has undergone a noticeable personality change or has become unpredictable; and/or

• would not be able to get out of the house quickly on his or her own in the event of fire.