Evelyn,

you can get iron on labels made up, but I have to say, it really doesn't
matter. Lets say one day Ida ends up wearing someone elses slacks, or she
wears someone elses blouse? So what. My father is in a home where he gets
good care, but he isnt always wearing his own clothes, sometimes the
residents put other residents clothes on before the nurses get to them,
sometimes they just get mixed up. The care people have enough to do without
swapping (say) shirts if they happen to notice that A is wearing B's shirt
and vice-versa, not that they are likely to.

In the big scheme of things, there are better things to worry about. Heck,
in the little scheme of things there are better things to worry about.

The facilities my MIL lived used iron on labels, and they worked very
well. Everything had to be labelled - and as I've mentioned before, I
found I had to go through all her clothing at least once a week and
fish out anything that wasn't hers. I don't think it was as much the
staff being careless as it was other residents wandering in and out,
and at each others things.  There were frequently items belonging to
other people in her closet and drawers that needed to be pulled out
and taken to the nursing station (and obviously, with an eye for what
was hers, I was the most efficient person to do this as I had bought
most of it and could tell at a glance if anything was not hers. And of
course, there was the just plain wierd AD kind of items - a cache of
cloth napkins from the dining room rolled in a ball and hidden under
her underwear, packets of sugar from heaven knows where stashed in a
purse, the tissues stuffed into pockets or shoes, the soiled undies
hidden under the suitcase on the shelf.

Another reason for doing a weekly check of her clothing was also to
sort it all so that matching items were together, socks remained mated
- but more importantly, to keep a good eye on the condition and
quantity. The commercial laundries that nursing homes use use
EXTREMELY hot water and harsh detergents for hygiene reasons, and the
home is going to toss everything she owns into that system (i.e. you
can't expect them to give anything TLC or know that that blouse is
supposed to be washed on cold and hung to dry. Expect that everything
will go into the hot water and hot dryer, so stock her wardrobe
appropriately. If you have nicer outfits for special occasions, you
might want to keep them at your place just in case. I also found that
things would ravel, buttons would vanish, hems would fall (sometimes
from laundering, sometimes from her picking at things), and unless I
was checking, no one would necessarily tell me. Underwear and socks
also vanished a lot, so I was always having to check that yes, there
were still at least 1/2 dozen pairs in the drawer at any time.

Because staff also have many people to dress, and you want them to be
able to help her into clean things or nightclothes easily, when you go
through her clothing, keep an eye for things that are simple to get on
her.

As you will recall, I used to buy a lot of things from Silverts, since
they sell a lot of ideal specialty items for the elderly or infirm,
and it was painless to order from them (i.e. I'll have another 10
pairs of those granny pant undies, a pair of velcro slippers, a tough
as nails cardigan and make it snappy!!)

Mary G.

Forgot to include the Silverts URL - have a look - they sell products
that are just terrific - I don't know know where else you get this
kind of thing like the special open backed nighties, shirts with
velcro, zip front dresses.

Here in Ontario, they actually go around to all the retirement places,
assisted living facilities, nursing homes with a big truck and they
bring the store to the residents (i.e. they set up all the racks in
the lobby).

http://www.silverts.com/

They sell printed iron in name tags - look under accessories. With
those and a permanent felt tipped laundry marker, there isn't much you
can't label, and it beats trying to SEW tags in.

Mary G.

Evelyn, I always used a "Sharpie" permanent marker to put the name on the
inside neck of a shirt and inside the waist of pants.  I marked the bottom
of socks and the inside of underwear.
Gwen

I took the simple route ... sharpie permanent markers.  Socks were labeled on the
bottom of the foot, underwear inside the waistband, articles of clothing right on
the inside tags.  I found the sharpies now even have a very fine tip marker, which
was easier to use on some items.  The only thing I seem to have problems with is
the underwear ... after several washings and bleachings, the name does fade ... so
I just relabel.  If memory serves me correctly, Ida has moved on to the adult type
diapers so this probably won't be a problem area for you.

I was going to try the sew in type labels, but the director said they are too
easily removed ... better to just use a permanent marker.

Joyce