Is Your Elderly Loved One at Risk for Elopement?
In a nursing home facility, residents are supposed to be regularly monitored to ensure their health and wellbeing are maintained. Unfortunately, when nursing home employees are understaffed or undertrained, residents can sustain significant injuries. Physical abuse, poor dietary options, few social activities, and unsanitary conditions can all result in harm. While those situations all take place in the facility, a resident is put in even more danger when they unknowingly leave their nursing home.
What is Elopement?
Elopement occurs when a nursing home resident leaves their facility. This can be dangerous for a number of reasons – the most pressing related to the elements they’re walking into. It is likely they will not have the appropriate clothes on to be outside. They may be lacking shoes, which could contribute to any possible falls. If the person is disoriented, they may be unaware of how far they’ve gotten from their facility and may not know how to contact their loved ones.