Why I use a lift
I decided very early in this journey through dementia that if I was going to keep my wife here at home with me as long as possible, I was going to have to have a lift of some type. I knew absolutely nothing about lifts and didn't do enough research before I started but I asked the doctor to prescribe a Hoyer lift and it was soon delivered by a local provider. It was only going to cost me $15 a month or so with the insurance picking up the rest and I knew I needed it on-site before I actually needed it. I did not want to suddenly realize one day I couldn't get her into bed and not have a lift here to use.
One of the big challenges was my wife was absolutely adamant that she would never need it. Consequently she refused to have anything to do with it and in fact to this day even though we've used the lift for well over a year now she still looks at it and complains that she doesn't really need it and doesn't understand why we use it. The last time she was able to stand even for a few moments on her own two feet was seven months ago. Like I have said in other posts, one of the big problems with dementia is the person with dementia doesn't remember what they can't do.
A physical therapist came to show me how to use the lift but I didn't have anyone to practice on and when the day finally came that I really needed it I almost dropped her on the floor and learned in that same moment that this was not something I could actually use by myself. Luckily, I had heard the words sit to stand lift from an agent from a home care company and I had done a little research and decided that perhaps a sit to stand lift might work better than the Hoyer lift. At least it looked as though it might be possible for me to use it by myself. So I asked the doctor for another prescription and traded the Hoyer lift for the sit to stand lift. I did not know then that 12 months later I would own it. After 12 months the insurance company decides that you now own the lift. My research tells me that I should have had the option to continue renting but no one told me that.
I realized in the very beginning that no lift was going to work well on the deep pile carpet in our bedroom. I decided that replacing the carpet was not an option so I bought some three quarter inch 2 foot by 4 foot sections of plywood and created a platform that extended under the bed for the lift to roll on. After screwing these down to the floor through the carpet I found pretty soon that because they were in small sections the joints made it difficult to move the lift when it had a full load. That resulted in buying a small rug to lay on top of it to even out the surface. Eventually even that was too difficult and I covered that with a piece of 6 by 6 plastic runner material.
I still had the problem of my wife not being willing to even let me try it on her so I finally found someone who was willing to be the Guinea pig and begin testing the various slings I had to find what worked best. My object was to move my wife from the bed to the commode for toileting purposes and as a place where we could change her clothes. I can assure you if you have not used a lift and you’re not sure exactly how, you really need someone approximately the size of the person you are trying to lift to practice with. It helps if they are able to communicate that experience and be involved in developing the process. I've even had someone else lift me so I could understand how it felt.
After approximately a year as my wife's condition continued to deteriorate it became obvious that she was no longer going to be able to use the sit to stand lift. A set to stand lift requires that the person being lifted actively be able to help move their own body, and she could no longer do that. Also because of the way the knees are engaged in the process her artificial knees became quite painful and she complained every time we needed to move her. This necessitated more research and I finally found a modified Hoyer lift that is powered that has proven to be the solution to the whole problem. If I had known what I know now I would have simply started with that and saved myself and my wife a lot of pain and agony. Here is a link to the left we are currently using.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TEQUMO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&th=1
Things I have learned and wish I had known earlier.
- Medicare won’t pay for a powered lift.
- A mechanical Hoyer lift cannot be operated by one person.
- A sit to stand lift may work for some time but as the person with dementia continues to lose body control there will come a time when it won’t work.
- There are many slings available and they are not all equal, some work much better than others.
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