Hi, new here. Hubby has had vascular dementia for almost 4 yrs but these last few months he has declined a lot. He rises around 2AM to go to the bathroom but then roams -- 3 times now he got out of the house while I am sleeping.
Would like ideas on what to put on door or door knob to make noise so I will wake up and get him. I have started putting a heavy chair/object at the door. BTW, he also has lung cancer, stage 4 (metastized). We are moving into a Senior Community in three weeks which I hope will alleviate some of my stress.
Welcome, hope I can help. I remember when our youngest was born, seeing safety covers for door knobs. I am sure the big name brand stores sell them. See if they would help. If I remember they slip over the door knob and you have to hold it a certain way to open it. They may also have other items that would help.
To keep my husband from wandering, I had deadbolt locks installed. The are locked and unlocked with a key on both sides. I took the keys to bed with me every night. He wanted to know why we needed these locks. Another fiblet, I said I heard someone in the area had a break-in, and I needed to feel safe. Sounded good to him. Put one on the front door and one on the laundry room door ( leads to garage and outside). Everybody is safe and happy. Hope I helped. Carol
Welcome Cathy. My husband is what they call a "runner"...he will try to get out anytime day or night. Besides installing deadbolt locks which require a key to open, I had those magnetic alarms installed on each door to the outside. Basically one side is attached to the door the other to the door frame and when the door is opened it makes an alarm noise. They are inexpensive and can be found at Walmart or home improvement stores.
I also bough a motion sensor alarm which will sound if he gets out of his bed so I know when he's getting up to go to the bathroom or to try to escape. I bought it on line. I bought it from Vitality Medical on line and it was the smart caregiver one on one motion sensor. It was $40.00 but has been very helpful. In fact I bought 2 - 1 to put in the doorway of his bedroom and one at the bottom of the stairs.
I used two strips of duct tape on the locked door knob. One strip down and one strip across. He never figured out how to open the door. It is easy to remove during the day.
I bought the smart caregiver motion sensor from Vitality Medical on line that LFL mentioned. The sensor is on our dresser next to the bedroom door and the pager alarm is on the night table next to my side of the bed during the night. It's plenty loud enough to wake me up if he starts out of the bedroom. There's also a clip on the pager so you can keep it with you and use it during the day. This has worked for us.