The Mystery of Missing Items in Nursing Homes

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The other day I came upon a post on LinkedIn about missing items in nursing homes. The author of the post expressed great frustration over this problem. As I scrolled down and read the comments, I saw many people spewing angry words about lost clothing, hearing aids, dentures, jewelry, and eyeglasses.

Interestingly, it was obvious that this is not just a problem here in the United States. People from Australia, Canada, and Great Britain voiced similar concerns.

I can’t blame people for being upset when something goes missing. Hearing aids often cost thousands of dollars to replace. Even worse, many residents with cognitive losses can’t handle the exams necessary to get new dentures or a new prescription for eyeglasses.

Missing items also affect a resident’s quality of life. Going without dentures often means the resident can’t eat regular food. A change in diet texture might lead to weight loss. The person’s appearance also changes when they go without their dentures; this could be a dignity issue for a resident.

Those of us who wear glasses know how difficult it is to function without them. And going without a hearing aid makes a significant impact on a resident’s ability to communicate.

Where do missing items go?

I remember a time when one of our resident’s dentures disappeared. We turned the place upside down searching for them. A few months later, a housekeeper found the dentures buried in a potted plant. We never thought to look there!

Another time, a brand-new dietary aid nearly died of fright when she saw a lower denture peering out at her from a bowl of oatmeal when she was clearing tables. They could easily have gone down the garbage disposal if nobody saw them.

Missing items are especially challenging in a memory care unit. People living with dementia often reach a stage where they perceive items like glasses and hearing aids as foreign objects, and they no longer want to wear them.  A resident might remove their glasses and leave them on a piece of furniture, then another resident comes along and picks them up. Also, I’m sure you’ve discovered memory care residents “shopping” in other residents’ rooms.

For some reason, it’s also fairly common for residents to wrap items in napkins or tissues. Then if nobody thinks to double-check, they get tossed in the garbage.

Sometimes missing or damaged items result from staff errors. One time a CNA at our nursing home put a resident’s hearing aid in her pocket and forgot about it. When she got home, she washed her uniform and destroyed the hearing aid. (Of course, the facility paid for replacement in this case.)

I also remember a couple of times when CNA’s forgot to take residents’ hearing aids out at bedtime. The aids fell out during the night and ended up going to the laundry with the bed linens the next morning.

And then there’s clothing. It’s not uncommon for people to bring new clothing for a resident and forget to mark their name on it. It returns from the laundry and staff have no idea who it belongs to. (Doesn’t every nursing home have a Lost & Found clothing rack?) There are also occasions when a staff person might accidentally put a garment in the wrong resident’s room, especially if the name isn’t clearly marked or if residents have similar names.

Sadly, we sometimes hear of instances where an employee steals something valuable from a resident. I remember a day when the police showed up at a nursing home where I worked and arrested a CNA. She admitted to stealing a resident’s wedding ring and hocking it at a pawnshop. There’s absolutely no excuse for doing something like this to a vulnerable resident.

Thankfully, in all my years of serving in various capacities in nursing homes, I’ve only seen this happen one time. The vast majority of nursing home employees truly care about their residents and would never do something so cruel.

What can we do about missing items?

That’s a great question and I wish I could give you a list of great solutions. Unfortunately, missing items have been a problem in every nursing home where I’ve worked or volunteered during the past 3+ decades. While I have a few suggestions, I don’t have any fool-proof solutions.

This is where you come in. One of the reasons I started this blog is for people to share ideas. I want all of us to work together to make life better for people living in nursing homes. Will you help?

I’ll be most grateful if you share how you address the problem of missing items at your facility. You can either leave your suggestions in the comment section or please feel free to send me an email: nursinghomevolunteer@gmail.com

Later this month, I’ll compile all the suggestions and share them with you in another post. Together, I know we can solve this problem! 

Update: Thanks for all the excellent ideas you shared!