Mother’s Great Escape

　It has been over ten years since I started to live with my mother who has Alzheimer’s-type dementia.

 During this decade, I suffered a serious illness and spent a few months in hospital. When I was in the hospital, my mother was in a nursing home that specializes in dementia care.

 The nursing home has a special system to prevent dementia patients wandering about. There are three barriers that stop these patients leaving this home.

 The first barrier is a door from the living space to the corridor. In the living space, several dementia patients live together. The door needs a key that is kept by the staff members.

 The second barrier is a door from the corridor to the lobby. This door is the most effective barrier to the dementia patients. You need to enter a four-digit code to open the door. The code changes every month. The number consists of two digits representing the year and two digits representing the month. For example, if it is March, 2016, the key number will be “1603”. Alzheimer’s-type dementia patients easily forget today’s date. This door works effectively because of their weak point.

 The final barrier is an automatic door from the lobby to the outside. It is an automatic door but it doesn’t open just when someone stands in front of it. You need push a button by the front desk. It is difficult for the patients to remember where the button is. Furthermore, the front desk is directly connected to the office. In the office, there are always staff members. If a patient is looking for the button in front of the door, the staff members will notice that.

 The barriers seem to be perfect, but my mother broke through all of them and went out wandering for a few hours. To the nursing home, that was the first time anyone had escaped. Outstanding!

 I will tell you how my mother broke through the barriers later. The nursing home had never had a patient escape, so they panicked. They didn’t inform the police immediately.

 A few hours later, my mother was safely found by policemen a few miles away from the nursing home, but the policemen didn’t realize she was a runaway from a nursing home. My mother can tell the address of our house but can’t remember the name of the nursing home. The policemen drove her to our house in a police car, but they just found an empty house. I was at the hospital and my wife was working at her office. The policemen couldn’t contact the family. They didn’t know what they should do.

 The nursing home and police had not contacted each other. This is one of the problems of Japanese dementia care. My mother strongly pointed out a social problem like she used to do. “Full metal realist (her old nickname)” is still alive!

 Now I will tell you how she broke through the barriers. The trick was simple. She pretended to be a visitor.

 Some people visit the nursing house to see the patients every day. Sometimes it is crowded. My mother made a group of visitors believe she was also a visitor not a patient.

 “It was nice to meet you. Now, I also need to leave. May I go out with you?”

Speaking like this is easy to her. It is difficult to realize she is a dementia patient in a brief conversation. The home on that day was crowded with visitors. Hiding in the crowd, she could pass through the first barrier. Then she made the real visitors open the second and third barriers. She got free and went on an adventure of the dementia wandering.

 Caring for those with dementia is not only difficult because the patient’s mental ability is low, but also because in some ways the patient’s ability is too high. Some people say “A bedridden patient is easier than a dementia patient.” It sounds cold, but it is so true.

 By the way, “pretending to be a visitor”? Mom! Why did you become a university professor? You should have become a theater actor like I did!