After being pulled out of her assisted living community because of the pandemic, a mother asks to return “home.”

In the June issue of The SeniorCare Investor we wrote about how an industry professional lost the argument with his younger sister about moving their mother out of her assisted living community and into the sister’s home. As it turns out, the sister should have listened to him.

The sister and her husband were very accommodating, giving up their master bedroom with bath and moving into the guest room. The problem was that this meant the mother was living on the second floor, and since she already had two hip replacements, she was afraid to go up and down the stairs. So, she stayed in bed, and then developed bed sores. 

To provide her with fresh air, they left the bedroom window open, which resulted in pollen getting into her eyes. This caused her to constantly rub her eyes, which then resulted in an eye infection. I am not making this up.

After 21 days, she called her son and said, “I want to go home.” Home was her assisted living community. The only “problem” was that since she had been in the unsafe outside world, she had to be quarantined for 14 days, and her community neighbors did not want to get near her in case she had become infected with the coronavirus. 

The moral of the story? Think twice before moving out. And think three times before believing you can take care of mom. I can only imagine the guilt of the sister who was trying to do the right thing for her mother.