Exit-seeking behavior converts a supervision problem into a genuine safety problem, and it's one of the clearest signals that staying at home is no longer viable without significant additional support or a move to a secured setting.
How families here handle this
Wandering changes the calculation more than almost any other symptom families describe, because unlike most other care needs, it introduces a real risk of a parent leaving a safe environment unnoticed, in any weather, at any hour. Immediate practical steps -- door alarms, secured exits, enrollment in a wandering-response program -- can buy time, but they are not a permanent substitute for appropriate supervision once exit-seeking becomes a regular pattern. On tours of memory care communities, ask specifically how exits are secured, what happens when a resident tries a door, and what the overnight staffing ratio is inside the secured unit itself, not the building-wide daytime figure.
Related questions
- How do I know if my parent can no longer live alone safely?
- What should I do in the weeks after my parent has a fall?
- What should we do in the first month after a dementia diagnosis?
- What free support exists for caregiver burnout in the Cincinnati area?
- What should we do when a spouse needs more care than the other spouse can give?
