The call that always comes
"We can't find her hearing aid." Or the dentures. Or the wedding ring she had worn for fifty years.
You will be told it happens, that they will look, and someone may point to a line saying the home is not responsible for personal belongings. Most families stop there, replace it, and say nothing further.
Two things are worth knowing. First: a hearing aid often costs more than a week of accommodation, and new dentures mean weeks in which an old person eats badly. Second: the home has obligations here that are not optional.
The home is required to have a policy — ask to see it
Provincial long-term care legislation requires licensed homes to have written policies covering residents' personal property: labelling of clothing and personal items, safekeeping, and a procedure for reporting and searching for lost items.
So the first move is not an argument, it is a request: "Please send me your policy on residents' personal property and lost items, and the record of what was done to search." A home that cannot produce either has already told you something — and that gap is what turns a request for replacement into something more than a complaint.
Note also where responsibility is clearest: when the item disappeared during a service the home was providing — laundry, personal care, a room change, a transfer. That is not the same as something vanishing from an open drawer.
The trust account nobody asks about
This is the Canadian specific that families almost never use. Homes hold residents' personal spending money in a trust account — for the hairdresser, the tuck shop, outings — and they are required to keep proper records of it.
Three things you are entitled to ask for, in writing:
- A statement of the account, itemised, on request.
- Confirmation of how interest is handled — trust money is not the home's money.
- Confirmation that nothing is being set off against unrelated charges without authorisation.
If you hold power of attorney for property, this account is part of what you are accountable for. Start tracking it from month one, not from the year-end.
The replacement interval that makes a loss expensive
Provincial assistive devices programs contribute to hearing aids and some dental appliances, but on a replacement cycle. Lose a recently funded hearing aid and the next one is yours to pay for, in full, until the cycle comes round.
That is why the conversation about how hearing aids and dentures are handled is the most financially useful one you will have with the home — before a loss, not after.
The insurance point
Your own home insurance generally will not cover a parent living in a long-term care home, and their old policy usually ends when the house or apartment goes. Ask an insurer specifically about coverage for personal property in a care home before the home is sold or the apartment given up — not after, when there is no policy to amend.
The five things to do on move-in day
- A signed inventory of what comes in: clothing, glasses, hearing aids, dentures, watch, ring, devices. Keep a copy.
- Photographs of anything valuable, dated.
- Label everything, including everyday clothing. Communal laundry is the first place things disappear, and an unlabelled garment is a lost garment.
- Leave the irreplaceable at home. A photograph on the dresser beats an heirloom in an open drawer.
- Ask for the dentures and hearing aid routine: where they are kept overnight, who removes and replaces them, how they are marked.
When something has already gone
- Report it in writing the same day: what is missing, when last seen, who was on shift.
- Ask for the inventory and the lost-property record. If neither exists, that is already in your favour.
- Ask what was done to search — laundry, neighbouring rooms, lost property — in writing.
- Ask for replacement where the loss occurred during a service the home was providing.
- If theft is suspected, report it to police and notify the administrator. It is not a hostile act; it is what triggers a real review.
If nothing happens
Use the home's formal complaints process in writing, with a date. Then the provincial reporting line for long-term care, which triggers inspection rather than negotiation, and the provincial ombudsman — or a patient ombudsman where one exists. All free.
The practical point
Ask for the personal property policy and keep a signed inventory from day one. Label everything, and get the hearing aid routine in writing — especially if the device was recently funded. Ask for trust account statements from the first month. And report any loss in writing the same day.
If these conversations show you the home is not the right one, Curalune Care Help gives you the starting point: 3 to 5 suitable homes matched to the real situation within 24 working hours, with contact details, links and a ready-to-send message to all of them at once. CA$99, one-off. If you don't receive at least 3 homes matching the area and criteria you gave us, we refund you in full. Start here
Requirements for personal property policies, trust account record-keeping and interest, assistive device funding and replacement cycles, complaint routes and inspection processes are set province by province and are revised regularly; each home also has its own policies and agreement terms. Free help is available from the care coordinator for your region, provincial seniors advocacy services and legal clinics. This article is general information and is not legal, financial or medical advice. Curalune does not allocate beds and does not guarantee availability.