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The situation that your father is in is not uncommon. On one hand, your father needs the safe environment of a nursing home, but on the other hand, his previous behaviors may be hindering him from gaining admission. Nursing homes generally have an admissions criterion which can make entry a complex and challenging process at times. Judging by your posting, it seems as though you have made tremendous efforts in trying to find a suitable location for your father but with little success. I would like to offer a few additional suggestions. For starters, it may be a good idea to have your father's medication regimen reevaluated by a doctor, or preferably a geriatric psychiatric or pscyhopharacologist. There are a number of treatments on the market designed to alleviate these kinds of symptoms and a clinician may suggest another medication regimen that your dad might respond better to. Another suggestion would be to specifically search for specialized dementia care units within nursing homes. Many nursing facilities are willing to accept individuals with dementia or Alzheimer's disease, but may not have specialized programs that are specifically designed to meeting their special needs. If their staff is not trained to deal with these needs, the individuals with dementia may not receive the proper care that is crucial to this population. If you are able to find such a specialized unit, you may find that the staff is more familiar with his behaviors and are better equipped to deal with them as they come. A good site to use for locating nursing homes is www.memberofthefamily.net. It might be a good idea to browse through the list of facilities available in your state, and contact them individually to find out if they have specialized dementia care units. If you are able to find a few, try scheduling a tour with them and speak with the unit managers to get a sense of how they would respond to situations your father has experienced in the past. Whatever direction you decide to take, keep up with your search and don't give up. You are doing a very important thing and your father is very lucky to have you advocating for him.
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