Now that I have your attention with the weird topic! LOL
I promise that my long explanation will come back to this question. =)
My 85 year old dad has dementia, and has diabetes. I'm not sure how advanced the dementia is, but it seems fairly advanced to me, and when he was in the hospital a couple of months ago, they did not want to release him unless it was to an assisted living facility...they were proposing keeping him indefinitely at a sister location if we didn't have a place for him. He was there almost 3 weeks, even though he was physically ready to go home after about a week. Unfortunately I had not found a care location that was suitable yet (where he could stay and transition to Medicaid after his money runs out), nor had we sold his properties yet to where he would have funds to pay for care. We (my sister and I) finally talked them in to letting him go back to his house (trailer), which was familiar to him while we continue to try to get things ready for him to move to a care facility.
Unfortunately I found out recently that due to a pension he gets, once his money from his properties runs out, he will not have enough to pay for care, but will be making too much to qualify for Medicaid.
....and, we have found that he has dug back in and is refusing meals on wheels, even though he had his license pulled, and does not like the health care workers that have been checking in on him. We finally found a caregiver he really likes, and she works for a reasonable rate, and will run him around to the bank, doctors, grocery store and check that he takes his meds. She lives about 10 minutes away from him and for now has been going to help him 3 or 4 times a week.
I live 3 1/2 hours from him and can't take him in due to not working from home and already helping my mother (his first wife...his 2nd wife passed late last year) who lives in a different part of the state. My sister lives in another state and is much further from him than I, is a single mother and can't take him in either, and keep her job.
Anyhow, with all the phone calls from him and for him, and my driving back and forth (~8 hour round trip) repeatedly, we are being really taxed, as well as two of his friends who he constantly calls for help...but "he doesn't need help" he says. LOL.
Finally I reached out to Adult Protective Services (someone else had got them involved when his late wife was still alive, and needed help, and they had not opened up to us so that we even knew their situation), and asked if they could start a guardianship proceeding to get someone who could be authorized to tell him what to do, as I and my sister (both with POAs) cannot. We also don't want to be the guardians as we do want to try to maintain a relationship, even though he can be extremely trying at times.
Sorry for the long and windy explanation...I've still left so much out...
Back to the topic of the question. The Adult Protective Agency lady suggested that we see if we can get an in-home care giver for him (at least for the time being), and it turns out that the lady that's been helping him is willing to do this for MUCH less than he'd have to pay if he went in a facility...we still need to get him to agree of course (fingers crossed). Anyhow, my dad happens to own another trailer that is maybe 100 feet away, but he has about three cars parked in between. We were thinking she could stay there, so she doesn't have to stay in his trailer with him at night when she sleeps, but I'm wondering if a baby monitor would work from that range with no wifi, and having to have the signal go between trailer walls and 3 parked cars. I know it's a bizarre question, and I'm not too hopeful that anyone will know, but I figured it was worth a try!
Look them up on Amazon and see what the specifications say about their range.
1) Mj1929’s is good advice
2) Move the cars and put the trailers closer together
3) It’s more likely to work through fibreglass trailers than aluminium
4) Read the range on the device and divide by 2 – they are tested under absolutely ideal conditions
5) If nothing works and Dad is able to press the button, try a CB radio instead
Good luck!
Moving a modular home is no easy feat, especially if they are sitting on concrete slabs.
There is plumbing, electrical and hvac to deal with.
Good ideas though.
I frequently 'babysat' and never actually laid eyes on the baby. Just watched and listened to the monitor.
If distance is a problem, move the trailers closer together. Your CG needs a place to be away from your dad each day and a place to call her own.
I used a baby monitor from my double wide home to my nephew's stick built house about 100 ft away with no problems. Although the double wide includes extra hardware to more strongly support the corners, it has wooden framed and insulated walls like the stick built house.
The baby monitor worked well from an external barn/garage about 150 ft away that used metal siding over wood frame and siding.
We recently bought a baby camera that we can speak over and it will sound a motion alarm, for $50.00.
You might have to bite the bullet and get internet installed for anything to work really good. Much cheaper then a facility and a perk for the caregiver.
But since I posted this, my dad offended his caregiver one too many times (I hate to say this about my dad, but he is a real butt around women). Once she made it clear to him that she would not be his lover, he became quite rude to her. I tried having several conversations with him, but they were fruitless. Sadly, he lives out in tim-buck-too, in a tiny town, in a gated communty, and lives several blocks from the front gate.
His caregiver quit with no notice (at $2,000 a month), even though she agreed to be paid less than the entire month, since she had not worked it all. I was not at all mad at her, as I know what a butt my dad can be to women....to anyone actually, but especially women.
Luckily, a friend of his took over helping him at the same rate (he is not a care giver, but there is literally NO ONE in the area to help him, so we concidered ourselves lucky). He is making sure he's getting his meds, picking up his meds at the pharmacy, taking him to doctor's appointments, shopping, etc.
Now, a few months down the road, that person has about had it. I won't go on here, but will post my new question in a different thread, since it will be a different topic.
Thanks again for your input!
Michelle, I just (belatedly) read your update.
I will go find your other question...