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April 23, 2022 · 12:05 pm

When Money Habits Change — Dealing with Dementia

This is such an important topic and I’m grateful for Kay Bransford’s excellent blog post. As my father’s dementia progressed, simple tasks like paying for groceries or a fast food meal became a challenge that caused my father to become angry and accuse others of trying to rip him off. My mother eventually had to take over those tasks. After my father’s death, my mother’s loneliness made her susceptible to the barrage of telemarketers who would call on a daily basis. As a long-distance caregiver, it was difficult and frustrating for me to try and manage from afar.
Click on the link below to read the helpful post on Dealing with Dementia:
There were a few odd conversations with my Mom when things didn’t make sense. But the most alarming thing was when I realized my parents had changed their decades-long habit of giving every January. I started to notice that my mother was writing checks to charities that they had never previously supported. I would read…
When Money Habits Change — Dealing with Dementia

Protect elder loved ones from becoming phone scam victims

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The phone was my mother’s lifeline, but it also served as a source of strife in my role as a caregiver.

While most people have disdain for telemarketers, my mother welcomed the calls. This was especially true once my father was placed in a memory care center, and in the period after his death. My mother was lonely and a human voice on the other end of the line, even one trying to sell her something, was a source of comfort.

My mother never bought anything from the telemarketers, but there was one time in which I became livid because I felt she revealed too much personal information. She told the telemarketer about her lottery winnings. I wanted to reach through the phone and shake her (but gently as she had a broken shoulder from a fall.)

She could not understand why I was so upset, even after I tried to explain in multiple ways how revealing that you have a lump sum of money to a stranger who has your contact information is a bad idea. It was one of the few times I literally hung on up her out of frustration.

I wish my mother had the teleCalm service back then. It offers a host of senior-friendly options and features that are useful for caregivers. The Essentials service replaces the current home phone service of your elder loved one, replacing it with a monitored service that can filter out scam and telemarketer calls. An additional service provides caregivers with a smartphone app that includes monitoring features that can be accessed remotely.

For those with dementia and their caregivers, teleCalm could help ward off predators and scam artists who try to take advantage of those with impaired cognition. If you have used the service, I would love to hear your feedback.