Professionals who run assisted living, nursing, and skilled nursing facilities try to do all the right things.  Sometimes, though, family members discover that some of their loved one’s clothing, jewelry, and/or other belongings have unaccountably gone missing.

What can you do? 

First, before your relative moves in, ask management:

1. What do you do to safeguard residents’ clothing and other belongings? (Although Medicare requires facilities to prevent losses/thefts, some don’t make it a priority.) 
2. How is laundry managed so that it returns to the right room?
3. How do you prevent residents with dementia from wandering into other people’s rooms and taking things? (The Margaret T. Morris Center, an assisted living facility in Prescott for people with dementia, offers one solution.  General Manager Amy Geissler confirmed that wardrobes in all residents’ rooms are kept locked.  They all take the same key, and all staff members carry keys; any employee can open any closet as needed, but unauthorized people can’t.)
4. How are belongings like eyeglasses and jewelry managed when residents are bathed, to ensure that the resident gets them back afterwards?
5. What can be done to prevent well-meaning staff from borrowing my relative’s belongings to help another resident?
6. In the last two years, how many complaints of missing belongings have you gotten? What changes have you made in response?

Second, think carefully before having expensive watches or jewelry (even wedding rings) in the facility.  Some families replace expensive items with costume jewelry, and store valuable pieces elsewhere.

Third, create an inventory – in both writing and photos – of clothing and other belongings that would be time-consuming, expensive, or difficult to replace.  Keep a copy yourself and keep a copy in the resident’s room.  If something is missing, show the staff its picture.  Without pictures, the odds of getting items back can be small.

Fourth, get iron-on name tapes (just like the ones you had for summer camp or kindergarten) and iron the labels into clothing, possibly excluding socks and underwear.

Fifth, if you wish to go further, you can label one hanger for each specific article of clothing (with article description, resident’s name and room number) and remove all unused hangers.  Make sure to prepare hangers for the clothing the resident is wearing and clothes that are in the wash.  Label drawers and shelves to show what belongs where (e.g., “2 pairs long-sleeved green pajamas,” “three short-sleeved white L.L. Bean polo shirts”).  Ideally, use a label-maker that prints laminated labels. Ask that clean laundry be put away where labels indicate.  Check belongings against the inventory/labels from time to time. Consider also labeling the bottoms of belongings such as shavers and flower vases with the resident’s last name and room number.