Marky, consider that given that his short term memory is damaged, his
ability to learn is also compromised. He may be able to adapt, he may
not.

My MIL moved into a nice assisted living place about 1/3 of the way
into the AD hole - and if you'd met her, you would have thought there
was no reason for her to be there (well groomed, could carry on a good
conversation etc). She was never able to really "get" the place. She
could never remember there was a fully stocked kitchen on every floor,
about 20 feet from her room where snacks and all kinds of drinks were
available 24/7. She could never remember that they had a tuck shop,
even though it was in the lobby and she went by it a dozen times a day
- never mind that she could run a tab there and didn't need cash. She
got lost in the building, even though it had a dead simple layout.

No matter whether your father does adapt with time (he may to a degree
inside the house - but never to the point you should feel secure he
won't get lost if he gets out....plus, you know he's also going to
decline) take this as a warning. He is at risk for wandering and
getting lost, and all kinds of bad things can happen . from robbery
and exploitation, to   Make sure he is never left alone in a situation
where he could get out unsupervised - whether that means alarms on
doors, special locks, a wanderguard bracelet system - whatever. Get
him a medical alert bracelet that says he's memory impaired, and has a
contact number on it. Get him registered with whatever wandering
persons system they have in your area (i.e. here in Toronto, they keep
family details on record, a photo, etc. with the police in case the
person goes missing - here is a sample of one of these programs
http://www.alztex.org/services/safereturn.asp). Iron some labels into
his clothing with his name on them, and a contact phone number, just
in case he gets lost and can't give his details to whoever finds him
(my mother in law would have given her maiden name, and the home
address of her girlhood). Make sure he has current contact information
in his wallet, and take anything with old information on it out.

Use a multi-pronged approach - i.e. don't rely on just one thing to
stop him getting away - use several at the same time, so that if he
gets past one, there are others to either stop him, or save the
situation. I'd be making sure all the neighbors know he shouldn't be
out alone, so if they see him wandering off, they'll bring him back.
This saved an old neighbour of ours - she was miles from home in a
busy urban area (she thought she was going to visit a brother who'd
been dead for 50 years plus). A neighbour just happened to see her,
and know that she had AD and must be in trouble, so she was saved
before anything bad happened - other than a long, cold exhausting
walk.

M

Mary gave you an excellent answer - maybe or maybe not but most likely he
will eventually develop a partial accomodation to his new surroundings.

Our LO who also has vascular dementia has lived with us for 7 years. Earlier
this evening my wife noticed her mother was passing gas so she asked her if
she needed to go to the bathroom. Her answer was "yes but I don't know where
it is"  so you see - maybe, or maybe with lapses.

Before bed each night we put out snacks at a certain location on the kitchen
counter where our LO can always find them for a middle of the night snack.
While she often eats the snacks we leave out, if we forget to put them out
she can never remember to look in the cabinet below the counter where the
snacks are stored. She can not find the garage. At least she never wanders
off.

AW