Technology Can Make Staying at Home Possible: An Interview
Sharing this season with loved ones is a blessing we hope that all of you are getting to enjoy this year. Helping people stay at home and stay with family is the core of what we strive to do, when we provide technology and home modifications. We believe that if you can make activities of everyday living easier and safer, people will have the time and energy to accomplish great things, whether that is writing a book or being able to spend time happily with family.
We are grateful to one of our clients who has so eloquently shared how technology has made it possible for him to have more time with his family than he was afraid he might have had otherwise. He has used technology ranging from our lift systems to commercially available computer programs to live his life well.
We strongly encourage anyone who is afraid that this might be their last season with their loved ones before aging or a disability forces them to change where they live to take hope. It is our goal and mission, year round, to use technology to help people stay as safe and independent as possible. More than anything else, we want people to think about what they’re going to do with their friends and family instead of how they’re going to get in and out of bed, or to the bathroom. Getting older or a disability can turn what were once simple tasks into impossible obstacles that get between someone and what is truly important in their life. Our technology and a few simple changes can often turn these insurmountable obstacles back into manageable hurdles.
If you or a loved one feels that they are going to be unable to stay safe or independent, we strongly encourage you to look into what technology or home modifications are available. It will not solve every problem, but you won't know if it will help you unless you investigate your options. We’re always happy to answer questions and provide solutions.
So please share the news, and share the video. Technology exists that can keep people where they belong for the holidays: At home with family, friends, and other loved ones.
Automatic Door Opener
Automatic door opener
Is a power door opener a luxury or a necessity? Frankly it depends upon how much effort it takes to open the door another way. I have plenty of friends and clients who use mobility equipment who might say they've gotten used to the extra steps they use to open and close doors compared to those of us who stand and walk. We don't have to think about our balance, backing up with our mobility equipment to get out of the way when we are moving the door, or having to turn our walker or wheelchair around and approach the door again in order to close it.
Two manual approaches to closing the include tying a string to the door and catching it with your hand or wheelchair as you pass through and adding an extra handle. These pictures from www.howtoadapt.com shows both. When I work with people who choose to add a handle whether it is screwed in, magnetic, or suction, I strongly suggest they take the extra time to turn around and reach forward to get hold of the handle in order to protect their shoulders, but that of course takes time.
Opening and closing a door with the push of a button seems like a really good idea to me. It could protect a person with poor balance, save a person time and aggravation, and frankly make it possible for some people to handle the task on their own. Total Home Access Solutions, installs Open Sesame Power Doors in private homes and residential communities.
This American company provides a reliable door opener that is flexible enough to work with in-swinging or out swinging, right hand or left hand doors, which allows my clients to re-use their opener if they move. We can provide a variety of switches which best meet a person's requirements. These openers don't interfere with another person's manual use of the door and charge themselves so they are always available even if the power goes out. Give us a call if you want more details about how these doors work. Is a power door opener a luxury or a necessity? If you can't open the door any other way; If the cost of remodeling to provide room around the door exceeds the cost of a power opener; if you run the risk of falling when you operate the door; or if you would like to get through the door and close it behind you with the same effort that most people expend, I think you'll be among the people who consider a power door opener a necessity for successful independent living.
Let us know what you think! BPhillips@Totalrr.com
The SureHands Lift and Care Systems Body Support Can Help with Clothing Adjustments at the toilet
It takes more than just getting into the room to be able to make use of the toilet. You need to deal with your clothing as well. What if you can’t stand up or balance while standing? What if you are a caregiver for someone who depends upon you to transfer or move from one surface to another?
One solution is the SureHands Lift& Care System Body Support. It can be used with any of the ceiling based or wall based motors. Unlike many slings, the body support leaves the buttocks area clear during the secure transfer. This makes this a great lift support for speedy, secure, and often independent transfers, but it is also great for clothing adjustments during toileting.
Once a person is positioned over the toilet, pants can be moved over the hips to the level of the body support. This is easier with looser pants. Individuals with sufficient hand strength and dexterity and arm mobility may be able to do this themselves. It is a relatively easy task for most caregivers. Once the person is lowered to the toilet, the thigh and chest cuffs become loose. As the thigh cuff is removed the pants can be pulled further down each leg. Some caregivers find it helpful for hygiene to lift a person into the air slightly for cleaning. Other people can accomplish cleaning while seated.
When the person is ready for pants to be pulled up, the top of the pants are gathered and pulled up as high on the thigh as possible. Work with one leg at a time. Sometimes you will need to repeat this process. If a person’s leg can’t be lifted high enough to clear enough space to pull the pants up, a caregiver can prop their leg up on something or lean them slightly to the side. The goal is to gather the pants up so that most of the fabric needed to pull over the hips is over mid thigh. Place the thigh cuffs just below the gather of material and lift the person slightly. With the cuffs at mid thigh the person’s buttocks will be lower than usual so best practice is to lift just high enough to clear the toilet and work fairly quickly to pull the pants up over the hips. Depending upon how tight the pants are, this step may take a little tugging to clear any folds of fabric at the thigh cuff. Lower to the toilet and reposition the thigh cuffs correctly as high up on the legs toward the hips as possible.
The body support makes dressing during toileting activities possible for many people. Give us a call today if you have any questions or wish to schedule a private consultation.
402-291-9514
Is your bathroom the scariest room in your house?
We know instinctively that the bathroom is a dangerous place. Falls occur from slips and trips. Slips occur most often on wet surfaces. What floor do we tend to drip water on most often? Trips come from obstructions we don’t see. Which room is often small with limited storage so things may be placed on the floor or on storage shelves placed in the walkway? Many falls occur when lighting is inadequate. What room in older homes is usually lit by a single set of lights that we reduce even further when we close shower curtains? Better yet, if we wear glasses, what room do we routinely take them off in? Other falls occur when a person’s ability to balance isn’t adequate for the tasks they are engaged in. What room requires us to step over a 15” high barrier such as the side of a tub, get on the floor such as getting into a tub, bend over such as pulling up pants after toileting? To top it all off, which room of our house is so small that if we fall on the floor we are likely to block the door shut with our body so no one can get in to help us? Of course we know the bathroom is a scary place, but it doesn’t have to be.
Safety can be improved in most bathrooms with careful attention to matching the environment to a person’s abilities and a willingness to try something new. It may be as simple as a well placed grab bar or a rug to absorb moisture that is really slip resistant to. For some homes, it may be a little more involved such as replacing a standard tub with a barrier free or walk in shower, or adding a walk in tub. Thinking about making a change may be difficult, but consider the alternative.
Take a look at these facts from the article Falls Among Older Adults: An Overview the Center for Disease control www.cdc.gov
• More than one third of adults 65 and older fall each year in the United States (Hornbrook et al. 1994; Hausdorff et al. 2001).• Among older adults, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths. They are also the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma (CDC 2005).
• In 2005, 15,800 people 65 and older died from injuries related to unintentional falls; about 1.8 million people 65 and older were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries from falls, and more than 433,000 of these patients were hospitalized (CDC 2005).
• The rates of fall-related deaths among older adults rose significantly over the past decade (Stevens 2006).
How can we look at facts like these, know the bathroom is one of the most useful, but most dangerous places in our home, and still not take action to save ourselves and people we love?
Take action today. Educate yourself on ways to make your bathroom safer. It may be easier and less expensive than you think it will be. If you want some help planning a functional and beautiful bathroom experience give us a call. You are worth it.
Access client shares his wood working access ideas with a web site!
Another Reason Why We Love Touching People’s Lives!
When Bob contacted me to improve the accessibility of a house he and his wife had recently purchased, we sat together and discussed what was important for him to do in the house. His determination to resume woodworking was clearly almost as important to him as being about to move through the doorways of the home and to be able to use the fixtures in the bathroom safely. He had us work on access through the house while he worked on creating a workshop that was accessible to him.
A recent amputation meant he needed to use a wheelchair at times and he was having difficulty using his wood working techniques designed for a person who can stand and balance. He went on line for some helpful ideas and found only one article related to wood working and access. Bob did not let this stand in his way. He took the initiative and started the website http://wheelchairwoodworker.net/ to share his innovations of making his wood working shop safer and more accessible with other people who had similar disabilities.
Bob’s website is active in two ways; he is first documenting the transformation of his workspace from the large traditional shop he had in his previous house to two separate rooms in his house. The second way Bob uses his website is to bring people to together so they have a platform to share their thoughts and input. Bob states that his website has been an overwhelming success and encourages people to not be afraid to speak up on his site. Bob gives a great deal of thanks to his wife, who happens to be an occupational therapist and was not afraid to encourage and push him toward recovery.
Accessibility is about making your home a place where you can do what is important to you. Please contact me if you have any questions about removing barriers for daily activities like bathing or cooking, but also about removing barriers to enjoying recreation too.
Oasis Seated Shower System™ a new way to bathe people
Oasis Seated Shower System™ a new way to bathe people
Helping people bathe is not one of those activities that most of us spend much time worrying about. Of course we were taught the importance of good hygiene from our parents and our mentors as we growing up. Of course we are influenced by the multitude of advertisements for personal cleaning products. For the most part though, we jump in and out of our showers and tubs without a lot of effort or thought about what we are doing.
When a person is unable to clean themselves, the bathing activity requires a great deal more attention. Even if a health professional is the person doing the bathing, being undressed and allowing someone to touch you is a process that is uncomfortable socially for most people. If a person is unable to stand up, getting really clean around the genitals and anus may be very hard to accomplish. Health professionals such as Nurses and Occupational Therapists spend a great deal of time and energy devising procedures and ways to help keep other people clean. The consequences of inadequate hygiene such as UTIs (urinary tract infections) can be very debilitating, or even life threatening for people.
I'm really excited to present the Oasis Seated Shower System™ because I love to help people find solutions. This technology allows really excellent cleaning with less hands on touching during the process. People are still present and still helping with moving a person, drying them, doing little extra touches with hair, hands, or feet so there is still the one to one human contact, but some of the most uncomfortable and difficult cleaning is taken care of with no touching. Dangerous things like having a person with poor balance standing or leaning to the side to clean the buttocks area are eliminated.
The Oasis is easy to use and set up. It uses the existing shower water supply and drain so there is no construction. It actually uses less water than a traditional shower or tub and because water doesn't circulate inside the seat, it is a very clean and low maintenance piece of equipment.
Here is a link to another cool video about the Oasis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfOsPTtWsPI
Remember, in a few short years, you will be able to say, "I was among the first to see the Oasis. It was the start of how we bathe people today!".
Right now I have a loaner I can take to facilities and let a few people try it out for themselves to see how much better their residents and bathing staff feel using the Oasis than they do using the old fashioned methods. If you have any questions about how it might fit for you, give me a call 402-291-9514 or email, BPhillips@Totalrr.com.
Check out our flyer!
SureHands Lift and Care System and Therapeutic Riding
Normally, you can find me in someone’s home, trying to make it better suit their needs. This week though, you could find me in a barn instead! We are visiting the Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Association, also known as HETRA of Omaha/Valley. Created in 1989, HETRA has helped both adults and children with disabilities participate in therapeutic riding activities. You can learn more about them www.hetra.org.
As Edye Godden, OTR/L, the Executive Director explains, Hippotherapy is an exciting and different form of therapy that many people participate in, which not only helps with posture and balance, but helps release tense muscles and provides stimulating social contact. It’s also a very exiting experience that many people who are not fully mobile would otherwise never get to participate in. However, helping people with disabilities onto horses is not always easy. Transfers like this can be hard on the riders, the therapists, the volunteers, and the horses. That’s where we were able to help with a SureHands Lift and Care System.
What to do about doorways?
Hi everyone. I want to talk to you about doorways, mainly getting through the doorway. I work with a lot of people who use wheelchairs and walkers; sometimes they find out they are just a little bit wider than the door.
What do you do?
When you are wider than the door, you have two choices. You can do construction. You can take the door out of the frame and widen it. However, if the doorway is only an inch too small, we can do an amazing thing just by replacing the hinges!
You can see the door takes up space in the door jam. If we use a product call an offset hinge and replace the current hinges on the door, we can use the same door, the same door jam and knob. What that offset hinge does is move the door out of the doorway when it’s open. That gives you another inch of usable space!
We also can add a receiver for your doorknob in the wall. This gives some space for the doorknob to go when the door is open.
So share the news and share the video! You have some choices if you are a little wider than the doorway. You can do full construction or you can try and offset hinge!
What is the cost of NOT using a stair glide?
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Stair glides do cost money, especially if you buy them from a reputable, experienced dealer who can provide product knowledge and service. I see my clients tempted everyday to save a little money and just keep on struggling up and down the stairs. I think this falls into the “penny wise, pound foolish” category of thinking.
Sometimes it is easier for a person to see the need when they’ve experienced a traumatic event and go from having no problems on the stairs to difficulty with them over a short period of time. They feel the impact that problems moving within their homes cause more keenly, and they are looking for solutions.
When the problem with negotiating steps comfortably has developed over a long period of time it is usually harder for a person to see the need for equipment like a stair glide. They may or may not have noticed that it simply takes more effort to go up and down the stairs. Perhaps they accept their arthritis pain as normal and aren’t aware of the stress that the stairs puts on their joints. Or they stumble one day and realize that they really haven’t felt comfortably balanced while maneuvering on stairs for quite a while. I will usually suspect a problem with the stairs when a person describes their daily routine in a way that makes it evident that they are arranging their lives around avoiding the stairs. I’ve met people living in older 2 story homes, who limit the amount of water they drink during the day because they don’t want to have to use the stairs to get upstairs to the bathroom. I know so many people who gradually become recluses simply because it takes too much effort or is too frightening to navigate steps to get outside.
Other people have told me quite proudly that they would never consider a stair glide. When I ask why they tell me that they believe they need the exercise or that they believe that they’ve been told by their physician or therapist that the stairs are good exercise for them. Now, I rarely come right out and disagree with another health professional, but I think there is a time and place for exercise and an area where the consequence of a mis-step is a tumble down the stairs is not it! If you have balance or strength problems, exercise somewhere else in your home where a fall is less likely to kill you.
Here are a few things we look for other than stairwell width, height, and length when we are recommending stair glides. These factors influence they type of options and features we recommend as well as the cost.
• Can the client get up and down out of chair safely? Do they need things like handles or grab bars for balance?
• Is there room at the top and bottom of the stairs for wheelchairs or walkers now and in the future? If the client uses mobility equipment, are they prepared to have duplicate equipment at the top and bottom of the system?
• Are there any structural changes that need to be made such as moving handrails, modifying doors around the track, or providing convenient electrical outlets?
• Will the track itself create a trip hazard at either the top or bottom of their stairs? Will the track present a hazard to others on the stairs?
• Is there clearance for their head and knees when they are riding? We have modified door casings at the top of a stairwell to provide a vital 1.5” of space for a tall person.
• What is the client’s weight? Larger weight capacity chairs cost more, but are worth it in the long run for safety, and a longer useful life if a person is close or over the manufacturer’s posted weight limit.
• Where are good locations for call/send switches.
• What safety improvements can we make around the chair glide such as removal of clutter, removal of loose throw rugs, and improvement of lighting?
Compared to your safety, your independence, and the quality of every day living, a stair glide for a straight stairwell is usually pretty cheap. Curved stairwells or stairwells with landings are more expensive as the track is often customized but is still usually less expensive than moving or a trip to the emergency room and rehab. We think the quality of your life is worth at least considering a safe way to have use of every level of your home.
Accessibility Doesn't Come at The Price of Attractiveness
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How much difference does a bathroom that works for you make in the quality of your life? We took a retrospective look at some clients who we helped improve the safety of the bathroom while modernizing it and helping her achieve her vision of beauty. She was happy with the way her new bathroom allowed her husband to be more independent and able to shower mostly by himself now in security. She’s been able to truly relax, and not be afraid that her husband would fall. He enjoys the privacy.
As we improved the accessibility of the bathroom, we kept budget and aesthetics in mind as well. Rather than widening the door and moving walls, we were able to use much more economical swing-clear hinges to provide the extra 1 and a half of door way width we needed. Our grab bar placement was designed to allow him to move through the bathroom and to help him up off the toilet, but matches the theme of the room without looking out of place or disruptive.
In the shower, we were able to use a pre-blocked Best Bath shower to place grab bars where he needed them, and to ensure he could place the showerhead wherever he wanted it most. Best Bath showers are beautiful, durable, and low maintenance, but their functionality and practicality, as well as their ability to be changed in the future as needed, is something else that we love about them. Here, we made use of their adaptability with a temporary threshold. It’s secured and caulked down now, but if they ever need a roll-in shower, it’s a simple matter to remove it and for a simple, elegant conversion to a roll-in shower. You can think about Best Bath System’s life time shower concept as two showers for the price of one.
So, share the news and share the video. Accessibility doesn’t come at the price of attractiveness. It’s possible to have a bathroom that is a pleasure to be in for both its safety and its beauty.
Magic Wand of Accessibility
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Sorry Virginia, there is no magic access wand.
Sometimes we can tell that we are disappointing the person standing in front of us at a health fair or talking to us on the phone. We are simply too responsible to attempt to solve their home accessibility answer without more information and usually without going to their home. Sometimes they’ve given long explanations of what is going on and what isn’t working, and we have listened. But even when they can accurately describe their abilities and what their home looks like, they are only able to give us their perspective of those things.
While our client’s perspective is critical and plays a huge role in the recommendations we make, they deny themselves the benefit of our objectivity and experience over the years if they ask us to rely solely on their impressions.
Here are a few reasons why a responsible access consultant won’t just attempt to solve problems for people without a good individual and on-site review:
1. There are accessibility guidelines that some people think can be used like a cookbook for access such as the Americans with Disability Accessibility Act Guidelines, but these are not designed to meet the personal need of every individual and they aren’t required in private residences unless they’ve been incorporated into a building code.
2. Every person is different from others and should be treated individually. Even two people with the same medical condition, same age, same size, and same sex, will have different goals, preferences and abilities.
3. Houses are very different from each other.
In short, there really is no notebook or cookbook that says what is exactly right for every person and we know there is really no such thing as accessibility magic wands so we have to rely on good old evaluation, knowledge about a multitude of options, and the experience to match those options with the individual’s needs. We feel like the best way to solve an access issue is to listen to a person to understand their goals and observe them in the environment they want to change. So if you give us a call with an access question, we really don’t want to disappoint you. Expect a thorough residential access answer to include a visit to you in your residence.
If you want an objective, professional solution to your residential access problem, call us and set an appointment with one of our designers. We provide in-home assessments with no travel fee in the Greater Omaha, Nebraska area. All other areas in Nebraska and Iowa are possible with a travel fee. We will give you a firm estimate of your costs for consultation when you call to make an appointment.
"I’d recommend them for about anything."
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We first met the Xs (obviously not their name) when Mr. X was in rehab and couldn’t return home as Mrs. X had no way to get him and his wheelchair into the house. They’d called someone about a ramp, but there was no room for it. It would have taken all the space in the garage and then some. They called us, and we took a look at the situation. We ended up suggesting a vertical platform lift. It would take less effort for both of them to use, it fit better in the garage, and it would still be helpful if he was able to regain the ability to use a walker or cane. We also provided Mrs. X with some tips for a friend of theirs who was widening their doors. The special hinges saved them several hundred dollars a door. Better yet, Mr. X was able to return home!After living with the wheelchair for about a year, they called us to help figure out whether they should make modifications to their current house, try to find one that was more accessible already, or if they should start building from the ground up. The process for this consultation is to listen carefully not only to what people can do in order to determine what environmental modifications will increase independence and safety, but also to how they want to live and what is important to them. The bathrooms, and Mr. X’s need for Mrs. X’s help to transfer had been the worst trouble. The stress was starting to take a toll. Despite that, they didn’t want to leave this house behind. They loved the neighborhood, their yard, and had invested much time in making their house their home. With that in mind, we recommended changing the house for accessibility. They were pleased to have options available that would make living easier in the home they loved. We worked together designing exactly how we’d increase his independence around the home.
Since the entrance to the home had already been addressed right after his stay in Rehab, the major changes were modifying the bathroom and providing an independent transfer method. We found a solution which solved both problems in combination. We installed a SureHands ceiling track with a body support. Mr. X can transfer independently, and can move between the bathroom and the bedroom at will. Furthermore, we didn’t have to rob any other rooms or closets for space which, was important for Mrs. X.We used a Best Bath shower with a threshold in the bathroom to obtain maximum useable space and water control within the existing shower pocket and bathroom. We ordered a custom width and depth seat and placed grab bars strategically to assist with sitting balance when Mr. X uses the ceiling lift to enter the shower. We replaced the traditional sink with a roll under sink after calculating that Mr. X would have just enough room to swing his legs under it once the door was widened. The toilet is accessed by a rolling shower commode chair, a solution customized for Mr. X . If a person needed access to the toilet on a more regular basis, we could have used a track splitter in the bathroom to help him transfer there. He didn’t feel he needed it, however, and picked an option that was simpler and more economical to him.
Once the lift system and the bathroom was remodeled, there were just a few smaller jobs we did which at first seem minor, but often small things have a big impact. Mr. X has two dogs, which he loves dearly. However, dogs being dogs, they love to go outside and come back in frequently. Having to get the door constantly for those two was a major physical effort. So, he planned an elegant little solution to that problem: We installed a doggie door to the fenced yard which gives them boosted accessibility too! If you watch the video closely you can see one of them coming and going through the door since we weren’t including it in the conversation. The second job was a specialized doorbell. It has a built in camera, speaker, and microphone that allow Mr. X to see who’s at the door and let them know he’s on the way without having to yell across the house.So, at the end of over a year and a half on and off of working with us, their house has undergone both major and minor changes and transformed from a place filled with barriers to a place that is easy for them to live in.
Bigger’s Not Always Better When It Comes to Toilets
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Having trouble getting up off the toilet or easing gently onto it is no laughing matter! A toilet that is high enough for you to sit with your hips just a little higher than your knees usually takes less physical effort to sit on if you have weakness in your legs or pain in the joints of your back or legs.
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| The toilet riser increases
height economically, but needs to be cleaned. |
There are a lot of ways to get a toilet seat higher. Many folks will add a riser to the top of the toilet either replacing the toilet seat or lifting the toilet seat. These risers work, but they don’t feel the same as a regular toilet seat and they require cleaning.
Another way to get a taller toilet is to lift the whole toilet with a product like a toilevator. This can give almost any toilet a 3.5” boost and it doesn’t add an extra toilet cleaning chore.
It is also fairly inexpensive now to simply replace a short toilet with an ADA compliant height toilet. Some manufacturers have started calling this “comfort height” and it is truly more comfortable for most Adults who are over 5’ tall to get up and down from 17” high toilets. If you check out the height of most of the chairs in your home, you’ll notice that most of them are around 17” high or even higher than that. No wonder a standard 15” high toilet seems short!
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| The toilevator lifts the
entire toilet. Here a round bowl toilet is used because the space in front of the toilet is limited. |
One thing people don’t realize is that they don’t necessarily need to purchase an elongated bowl when they replace a short toilet with a taller one. There is nothing wrong with an elongated bowl. Frankly, there are a lot of great reasons to go with an elongated bowl if you have the room. For instance, people with larger buttocks or extremely tall people will feel more comfortable and find an elongated bowl more functional.
The problem with elongated bowls usually pops ups in two situations. When the toilet is between the door and other fixtures in the room, an elongated bowl will take up an additional 1 ½” of the path. That may not seem like much but if you have a 5’ wide room and the toilet takes up 30” of it, you only have 30” left for a walker or wheelchair. Other things in the room like vents and doors can take up some of those precious inches too. If you have a bathroom where the door has just enough room to swing by the standard toilet, switching over to an elongated toilet may actually block the door. Whoops!
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| There is room to spare in front of this elongated bowl toilet. |
So by all means raise the height of your toilet. You will love it as long as you can keep your feet on the ground. Just make sure you look at all your options so you don’t create other problems.
I Want to Transfer Anywhere - Absolutely Anywhere!
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Imagine that you aren’t able to get up out of that chair that you are sitting in right now. How long could you stand it? Would you be happy to even get a little help after an hour or two, even if it was only enough to move you into one other spot? What if you could move even more?
The thing that I like most about a ceiling or wall based motorized transfer system is the freedom it can provide to a person with a disability and their caregivers. A reliable system can free a person from fear of being dropped or fear of injuring a caregiver and can provide the freedom to move from seat to seat as many times a day as they want or need to. Even a basic straight piece of track over a bed and the space beside it can be life changing for a person who could not move from bed or wheelchair without it.
That said, imagine the freedom if a person could move anywhere they want to within a room. A traverse Track System accomplishes that. The traverse track system consists of two fixed ceiling or wall mounted parallel rails and one traverse rail that moves back and forth of the parallel rails. The manual version shown in our video can be moved almost effortlessly by a caregiver. SureHands Lift and Care Systems as usual has many options to allow us to match a person’s abilities and environment. There is an electric version that can be operated independently by a person sitting in the body support or sling. We can also connect a traverse rail to another rail and a person can move outside of the room. While a traverse track system may not be able to move a person anywhere in the physical environment, such as down their outside ramp, all over the yard, or up and down the stairs, it can come very close to moving a person anywhere inside they want to go within their home.If you’d like to learn more about the possibility of transferring anywhere, give us a call or visit the SureHands Lift and Care Systems web site http://www.surehands.com. Imagine the freedom!
Power Toilet Aid Elevates Toilet Seats
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Elevate your bathroom experience
There are few worse places to get stuck than on the toilet. Being able to go to the bathroom on your own is one of the first real forms of independence people develop, and being denied that ability due to injury, disability, or age can be frustrating and heartbreaking. And not all of us have people who can come to the rescue at a moment’s notice! Being unable to stand up and move from the toilet while alone at home can be just as dangerous (or lead to) a fall.
Fortunately there are a variety of solutions that can help people recover bathroom independence.
Sometimes, raising the toilet seat and adding grab bars is enough to give people the boost they need to get back on their feet. Sometimes people need more help than that! The Stand Aid power toilet may be the answer. The Stand Aid power toilet is meant for situations where the person in question needs to be nearly standing again to get on and off the toilet. It can lift 13” vertically to help someone back to their feet, but slowly lowers them to toilet level for both safety and cleanliness.
If you or someone you know is having trouble on the toilet, don’t be afraid to get help. There are so many solutions that will take your bathroom experience back to the level it should be. Share the news and share the video.
Tub Cut at Harrison Heights Senior Village
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This month, we visited our
friend Pam Jackson, the property Manager
at Harrison Heights Senior Village (402) 933-8080 to talk about her with the Tubcut™ we
did for some of the people who live there. We had three major questions for her
to determine if the process had been successful
1) Did the Tubcut™
improve the safety and independence of
the person who had to use it?
2) Was the
Tubcut™ good for helping her get the apartment filled, and for the community?
3) If the
opportunity arose, would she arrange a Tubcut™ for another person who needed or
wanted one?
The answers to all three questions were resoundingly positive. “[The Resident] doesn’t have
to worry about falling or anything like that when he gets into the tub, but the
option is also open where we have the piece and can put it back if another
resident wants the full tub…Our whole office likes it.”
We are
always thrilled to help out our friends at Harrison Heights, and help keep
their residents safe and independent. If you know people who could use a little
extra security getting in and out of the tub, but want to be able to convert it
back to a regular tub if need be, share the news, and share the video. The Tubcut™ is the economical solution they
need.
The RIGHT Way to Get into the Tub or Shower
Watch on your mobile device >>
Have you ever run into someone who does a simple, trivial task so differently from you that it blows your mind? When we perform an action day in and day out for years, it becomes second nature, and we hardly realize what we are doing, much less be able to articulate why. Getting in the tub is an action like that. We do it all the time, so regularly, that we build up habits that we don’t even notice, even when they become detrimental to our health and safety.
Now, the only right way to get in and out of the tub
is the way in which you are the safest. Some people will only get in at the back
of the tub, others only in the front. Some will have the water running; others
will only turn it on once they are settled in. As an access designer, I need to
know how you prefer to move into the tub, because I don’t want to assume
everyone does it “my way.” I want to be able to put a grab bar right where you
are going to reach for support based on your preferences.
There are times where I
will suggest a change. It is usually in circumstances in which someone’s
abilities have changed, but their habits have not, or in a situation in which
new equipment makes their old methods hazardous or unsafe. It’s never to try
and make someone do it “the right way,” because there is no wrong way, so long
as you aren’t in danger.So, share the news, and share the video. The right way to get into a tub is based on your equipment, the layout of your bathroom, your skills, and your preferences, and is always the way that makes you safest and most comfortable.
Put Grab Bars When You Need Them
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What is more important? Where you put the grab bar or how you attach
the grab bar? The easy answer would be to say, both are equally
important. However if you were forced
to choose, which would you say is more important?
 |
| Vertical Grab Bars Two Heights |
I would choose the
location and orientation of the grab bar as the priority. Of course, I am an Occupational Therapist and
I’m aware that a person’s way of moving, their height, their joint mobility,
strength, balance, and many other factors affect where they need a support. For
instance there are 4 phases of rising when a person stands up. You have to look at which phase they are
having the most problem with before determining where to put the grab bar and
whether it should be horizontal or lateral.
If a person has a disease like Parkinson’s disease, they might have
bradykinesia, tremors, rigidity or other postural instability that would create
a need for support in different ways than a person who has arthritis affecting
their knees. A person moving from one
seated position to another, for example from a wheelchair to a toilet, would
need grab bars in a different position than a person who is walking. A person will need a different type of
support for stepping in and out of a shower than they would for getting up off
of a chair or toilet. A grab bar is most useful if it matches a person’s skills, ability and intent.
 |
| Wingits |
I also quite frankly, rigged the question so I
could answer it.
 |
| Superpole by Healthcraft |
 |
| Traditional Blocking |
Put grab bars where
the person using them needs them by using the variety of installation methods
and technologies available to you. Give
us a call if you want to talk grab bars.
Top Ten Questions about SuperPoles™.
Watch on your mobile device >>
There are times when a basic wall mounted grab bar just won’t do. What do you do If you need balance support or assistance transferring in the middle of the room? What do you do if you need a support bar in one spot but then need to move it out of the way? What if you rent, just want to use the grab bar for a few months, or don’t want to put holes in your shower or wall surface? The SuperPole™ System from Healthcraft Products, Inc. is the answer we use at Home Access Solutions for these situations.
Top Ten Questions:
Central to the system is a stylish floor-to-ceiling grab bar, which provides a secure structure that can be installed quickly between a floor and ceiling.
2. How Much Weight Can a SuperPole™ hold? The standard Model will support a 300 lb user and the Heavy Duty 450 lb.
3. Is the SuperPole™ System only for the Bathroom? It can be used anywhere in the home or clinic where you have a structurally sound floor and a ceiling. If you have a drop ceiling, cathedral ceiling or don’t have a ceiling, there are accessories or other Healthcraft Products that will provide a secure system.
4. Can you get the SuperPole™ wet? The standard system is aircraft aluminum powder coated wet. We use it in moist environments outside the shower. There is a stainless steel option with a 3- way seal in the base for use inside a shower.
5. Is the SuperPole™ a spring tension bar? Absolutely not! Envision the SuperPole™ more as a joist jack dressed up for a party. A jack screw inside the pole allows the pole to push between the floor and joists. The pole can be attached to joists.
6. Is the SuperPole™ just a pole? The SuperBar™ with pivot and lock technology is incredibly useful horizontal grab bar that can be moved safely. You really need to see this on the video! There is also a SuperTrapeze™ and a variety of ceiling adapters. It is definitely more than a pole.
7. How tall is a SuperPole™? The standard height is 93-99”. It can be custom cut shorter and accessories can extend the pole to up to 140” for some weight ranges.
8. Is the SuperPole™ hard to install? It is what we call handyman level skill. It comes with excellent directions and all the tools you need to install it with the exception of a level and a tape measure. Remember, if it is installed properly you can safely rely on it. If you are not equipped to install it properly, you should have a qualified contractor install it for you.
9. Is the SuperPole™a permanent grab bar? It can be left in place for years with occasional checks of the jack screw tightness, but it doesn’t have to be permanent. It is quick to take down so it is perfect for renters, people in transient housing, or people with temporary needs.
10. Is the SuperPole™ just for Seniors? The SuperPole™ System is useful for anyone of any age who needs a balance or transfer support.
Check out our video to
see the answers to the Top Ten questions
about SuperPoles™
, visit web site www.Healthcraftproducts.com , or email
us at info@HomeAccessSolutions.com and request a complete catalog. If you want to purchase, we offer great
pricing on the poles www.HomeAccessSolutions.com
as well as installation in our service area.
Use the discount code SUPER10 to get an additional discount in January.
You will just have to agree that the SuperPole™ System is SIMPLY SUPER!
You will just have to agree that the SuperPole™ System is SIMPLY SUPER!
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