Hi Everyone,

It's very rare that I bring to your attention a particular product that appears in any of the store links on my website, but I thought this one really deserved attention, as it has good reasoning behind it. It is offered at The Alzheimer Store - click the Alzheimer Store link on the right side of my home page - www.thealzheimerspouse.com

This is the e-mail I received from The Alzheimer Store about it:

"Topping the list of the most common, life-threatening behaviors associated with Alzheimer's disease is wandering. More specifically, elopement - leaving home unable or unwilling to return. Statistics indicate that each year there are more than 125,000 cases of critical wandering; more than 60% of people with AD wander at least once during the course of their disease, and of those who wander once, 72% wander again. And if a person with Alzheimer's goes missing for more than 24 hours, they have only 54% chance of survival.

To combat this ever present danger facilities often incorporate alarms and locks on doors, and then most go one step further - they incorporate redundant strategies - more than one feature, deterrent or obstacle to prevent persons with cognitive impairment from exiting their residence unattended.

Among the most popular and unique products the Alzheimer's Store now offers is a door mural that camouflages exit doors and doors leading to dangerous areas, such as stairwells, utility rooms, storage rooms, etc. The plan is that if the doors are less easily recognized, they pose far less of an attraction and danger to residents seeking to go "home", back to work, back to school or just to the freedom that lies beyond those doors. In the simplest of terms, "Out of sight, out of mind."

The fact is that beyond those doors, life is far more complicated, so much so that persons with Alzheimer's may not be able to find their way back, react to sudden changes (such as an oncoming car) or may be taken advantage of by ill-intended persons on the street.

In addition, these exit doors are usually fire-rated and when you apply a combustible material to a fire-rated door, you affect its fire rating. So when a Fire Marshal finds a paper door mural attached to a fire rated door, s/he is not happy and the result is often an order to remove it - even though it is there for the safety of the residents.

Solution: Fire-Rated Door Murals. For the first time, the Alzheimer's Store now offers a line of fire-rated door murals. The current model resembles bookshelves, but more designs will be available shortly, including a Pantry Mural (Cookie Jars) and one displaying a set of Knick-Knack shelves. But the most unique feature of these murals is that they are printed on a Class A, fire-rated polyvinyl that is non-combustible and self-extinguishing.

So not only do these door murals not contribute negatively to the combustibility of the door, they improve it! And if the door no longer looks like a door, it makes far more sense to move on in search of something that does."

joang