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My parents-in-law live in the Buffalo, New York area. Dad has recently been all but conclusively diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He is incontinent x 2, no longer safe on his own because he gets into everything, is restless and wanders. Mom is not able to manage Dad’s behavior and we feel that the situation has become dangerous.

We plan to bring Dad here to Arkansas, and he has been accepted into an Adult Day Health Center in Johnson. Our home is not suitable for him so we need to find Dad a clean, homelike environment, and want guidance about how to finance that. Will insurance pay for it?

I will answer the medical part: It's rather unusual to have a patient who RECENTLY diagnosed with Alzheimer's to already suffers from incontinent x 2 and exhibits restlessness and wandering behaviors. These conditions tend to happen in patients with advanced dementia; they can also be found in patients with delirium or suffering from a drug side effect called akithesia. Rochester/Monroe county NY has very good geriatric long-term care facilities worth exploring. If this patient is to be moved to Arkansas, I would like to recommend an admission to the Gero-Psychiatry unit at the PRI/UAMS (Dr. Lou Ann Eads) for evaluation and management of his medical and behavior problems. Social work service at UAMS can help answer the insurance/finance/care resource questions as part of discharge planning from PRI.

P Liem

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