My Mother in Law has been in a nursing home for a year, she’s got dementia, she had trouble walking when she went in, but is now pretty much just in a wheel chair now. She’d had falls in the beginning when she was there. The NH’s solution was to move her to sit in front of the nurse’s station during the day and night. I understand the day part, even if she naps crunched over in a chair, but she doesn’t sleep in a bed at night either. I understand it’s because of the fall risk if she wakes at night. But isn’t there some better way to address the fall concern and still let her sleep in a bed?
We took him home, bought a very low electric bed, and pay for 24 hour care. Someone sits at the bedside or watches him with a baby monitor if they need to leave the room; they sleep on a mattress on the floor next to bed. He rarely tries to get up since he's been home, but if he does the caregiver offers to help him sit on the edge of the bed or transfer to the wheelchair.
Fortunately, after a year he qualified for Medicaid and their In Home Supportive Services program, so they now pay for some of his caregiver hours. After another year, he also is about to receive more paid hours through the Home and Community Based Alternatives waiver program ("Waiver Personal Care Services"). If your MIL would qualify for these services, you might consider 24 hour care at home.
Families should NOT have to pay for a private duty caregiver for their loved one in a nursing home. If a family is going to do that they might as well keep them at home. The nursing home has options when a resident is a fall risk, making a resident sit at the nurses station 24/7 is NOT one of them!