Mom and Dad: The gravity of sleep

Mom plays the piano for the singing group at the facility called “Songbirds.” One of the activities directors usually sits in and helps guide the group from song to song. She calls out the name of the song and the page number while helping some of the singers find the page. Sometimes, she has to help Mom find the page as well.
Dad, never wanting to be far from Mom’s side, likes to sit on the piano bench. Mom was more than happy to have him at her side and thought she could keep a better eye on him than anyone else. “He falls asleep! He just falls asleep!” she’ll say, propping him on half the pillow she uses to reach the keyboard.
Well, one day, he nodded off and fell straight back off the piano bench. His foot was caught under the front of the piano and his back and shoulders had hit the floor. He stayed asleep, which frightened the staff very much! They called the nurse and refused to let Dad get up until she had checked him over. They planned to follow up with frequent checks over the next few days.
Later, they called my brother to report Dad’s fall. My brother rushed to the facility to check on Dad himself, then called me.
Assured that Dad was ok, I didn’t bother to make the trip down.
The next day, I called the administrator to request that, in the future, they call me with these things, rather than my brother. While we both share medical POA, his main function is financial – the medical stuff just upsets him, and he ends up calling me anyway.
The administrator had the nurse call me back to update me on Dad’s condition.
He hadn’t hit the floor hard, had more slid off the bench than flopped, and was doing fine. They had been administering some tests many times a day and he seemed unscathed.

I couldn’t help but wonder, though. What were they looking for? Brain damage?

Tags: Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's care, caregiver, caring for elderly parents, elder care, senior care