I developed the idea of a communications notebook when I was caring for my grandmother. This became a valuable tool that helped me stay on top of her day-to-day care while ensuring she maintained a high quality of life. Previous newsletters covered the overall purpose of the notebook, the weekly activity schedule in tab one and the daily menu in tab two. This issue concentrates on the visitor log in tab three. Visitors are a very important aspect of ensuring the elder in your care has enough social stimulation. But there may also be times when you need to curtail a situation where there is too much activity.
If you are caring for an elderly relative or friend but are not the day-to-day caretaker, you might not be aware of who comes and goes on a daily basis. Elders often have short-term memory issues and can’t reliably report on the variety of people who call on him during the week. Daily caretakers should be counted on to provide this information, but might not remember the details of when or how long each guest stayed. A visitor log in the communications notebook provides a specific place where each person can sign themselves in or the caretaker can make an entry.
The log should have columns for arrival and departure times as the name and a brief description of the reason for the visit. Make certain that all visitors sign in. This includes doctors, CNAs, hospice workers, spiritual counselors, friends and family. You can use the log to reminder those who have not visited in a while that it would be nice to drop by. On the other side of the coin, you can try to limit the number or duration of visits by those who upset your charge or wear them out. Without an accurate log you can’t have the information you need to make these important decisions.
