Plan B Forum

This was reported in the NY Times today. The online version included this as the last sentence:

Jeff Morgan, the chief operating officer of the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, which runs the Yallambee Lodge, told The Daily Telegraph that its staff had followed procedures during the episode.

Didn't we (the Allies, including representatives of Australia) at the end of WWII hang people who used this excuse?

snailgate

I’ve read numerous articles about this incident this morning. I’m angry that the care home called police to begin with, that suggests a need to reevaluate their policies with regard to dementia patients. It’s their fault she had access to the knife to begin with, after all - she got it from the facility kitchen.

The officer behaved like far too many officers do in confrontation with a person with mental impairment. The police are not adequately trained on the way mentally ill or demented brains work and they approach such people demanding instant compliance just as they do with citizens without those issues. Some police seem like rabid unreasoning dogs in this respect. The way the incident is described, she was contained by herself in a treatment room with the steak knife. She was not a threat to anyone but herself at that point, and if she wasn’t actively stabbing her self they should have taken time to wait out her present anxious agitated mood. They could have brought some music into the situation- don’t scoff, this is a very effective tool for managing dementia behavior and can often break a mood of heightened anxiety and paranoia which are common in folks who suffer dementia. There are all kinds of ways to intervene short of physically assaulting the patient.

This situation makes me sick beyond belief. I once cared for a man who suffered early onset Alzheimer’s (he was very early 60s) and was no longer capable of conversation by the time I cared for him. There was some communication but it was very difficult to understand what he needed at any time and he was prone to fits and outbursts of agitation. We played music all day long to ease his moods, a playlist his wife put together of his favorite songs from his earlier life. One day I was working with him - it was in home care, she kept him home to the end - and he was doing his usual thing of just walking around the house, always moving, reaching out and touching things and humming/vocalizing. I was busy taking the fridge apart and cleaning it and refilling it for his wife, and at some point I turned around and he was right there with a big butcher knife in his hands. He had simply pulled it from the butcher block on the kitchen counter as he wandered his way around the kitchen. It had obviously never happened before, after it happened his wife secured the knives - these are the things you navigate as you go through the journey of a loved one’s disintegration by dementia. Anyway there was me facing him (much fitter and stronger than me, btw) with a very large chefs knife and he was indeed ‘brandishing’ it at me, because the mind knows how to hold a knife and even absent reasoning capacity it relies on decades of muscle memory. I was momentarily panicked, but I quickly considered my options and finally decided to give him something else to hold. I grabbed his food plate which was a flexible plate like often used with toddlers and he liked to hold it and bend it sometimes so I grabbed it and handed it toward him and he dropped the knife to grab the plate. It’s a simple technique that often works with little kids and dogs, too.

I wonder if anyone at the care facility even tried that, or did they just try to manhandle her and take the knife away and thereby further agitate her, or did they even try at all, were they just too scared to try? Obviously the root of this terrible incident is the negligence involved in allowing patients with dementia to access anything that could be considered a weapon and which could harm them or another patient or a staff member. If the sharp knives had been secured, this would presumably not have happened in the first place - no need to call the scaredy cat cops who are petrified by fear at the onslaught of a doddering 95 year old with a steak knife.

It is difficult to imagine needing to call the police on a patient. There have been instances I have read about involving sexual assault which involved predatory males. But a 90 yo woman? Generally when you have one riled up that much you call the family and get them to help out. Outside of that just back away and let them get tired and things will soon de-escalate

Charges need to be filed for assault on the part of the cops and serious training for the staff involved and perhaps some need to be discharged.

She isn't going to make it. My mom was able to say, "You're going out with a bang dear!", when they held the phone up to Claire's ear. They have three separate investigations going on. At least one of the officers has prior issues. They are shushing the family. I'm pretty sure I just got shadow banned om..never mind. My mom said she hopes it doesn't just go away and changes get made. There was no excuse. My mom is a nurse and volunteers for hospice to this day. I am trying to figure out the best way to help, what to say and what platforms. I got shadow banned because my aunt's story was in police brutality red.. and someone made a political remark and I replied it wasn't. I hate what politics does to people, to nations, the world. God I need a nap.

Meaning no disrespect - and not minimizing the awfulness of the event. But this isn't "Random Thoughts". This should be a thread of its own because it's serious and not at all whimsical or funny

Random thought....

Highly unknown fact: John Lennon wrote 'In My Life' for Moe Howard of the Three Stooges.

Proof: The song ends with him singing the line (twice), "In my life I love you Moe."

Jack Smith is my hero! Proud of the USA today, it’s so grown up to hold the President accountable just like regular folk - we are big kids now!

Just offering my condolences in advance to anyone who has to travel 95 through Philly this summer. Ouch.

I almost always get a bit depressed on the first day of summer, because it means that the days will be getting shorter and shorter for the next six months. Weird reaction, huh?

Or you could consider that in only 6 months it the time of daylight will be getting longer again. Snailgate.

I have become a very good maker of quiche. I make the same one every time - it’s got garlic, sun dried tomatoes and a whole 5oz package of spinach finely chopped. Also some Parmesan/Romano cheese, some Italian herbs and some red pepper flakes. Phytonutrient rich and lots of heat to get my blood flowing.

I’m so sad I was 52 years old before I discovered what a perfect breakfast quiche is.

Why oh why are so many online photos and especially videos reversed (mirror-image) from what they should be? It's just so obvious, when any printed text or signage shown are backwards.

That's definitely something to reflect on...

You just need to break on through (to the other side)

Celebrate the Women's World Cup! Noticed today that three of the Vietnamese players are openly Trans!

Woah! Where people who get whomped by 15 year boys display their pitiful expertise. Enjoy.

Scooter wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 21, 2023 10:06 pm

I almost always get a bit depressed on the first day of summer, because it means that the days will be getting shorter and shorter for the next six months. Weird reaction, huh?

Has anyone ever, ever, expressed a concern for this condition? That might be a clue that no one gives a shit and perhaps you should of this purely subjective condition do so as well.

Oh my goodness! The first day of summer, how awful! Now let’s go have a good cry together.

Am I mean? How is it mean to hold a mirror.

Scooter wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 21, 2023 10:06 pm

I almost always get a bit depressed on the first day of summer, because it means that the days will be getting shorter and shorter for the next six months. Weird reaction, huh?

Has anyone ever, ever, expressed a concern for this condition? That might be a clue that no one gives a shit and perhaps you should of this purely subjective condition do so as well.

Oh my goodness! The first day of summer, how awful! Now let’s go have a good cry together.

Am I mean? How is it mean to hold a mirror.

rubato wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 10, 2023 1:30 am

Scooter wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 21, 2023 10:06 pm

I almost always get a bit depressed on the first day of summer, because it means that the days will be getting shorter and shorter for the next six months. Weird reaction, huh?

. . . That might be a clue that no one gives a shit and perhaps you should of this purely subjective condition do so as well . . . How is it mean to hold a mirror.

I don't think the real rubato would have used such an ugly construction as "should of this purely subjective condition" etc. Nor would he have missed the ? after 'mirror'

It's the kid again. I guess rubato passed on and the kid inherited the password (and the keyboard). Lucky us.