Regaining Mobility and Independence

Losing full mobility because of a disease, old age or even injury can be very soul-destroying, as you feel like you are no longer able to do the things you used to. However, there many different devices that will contribute to helping you regain your mobility inside as well as outside your house. That way you will be able to do more things on your own as those devices will help you regain some independence and you will not have to rely on other people all the time.

Most shopping centres in the UK are now equipped with the appropriate facilities to greet disabled customers. That is why devices such as mobility scooters will be of great help whilst leaving your house. They will enable you to get out of your house without the fear of falling. However, you must make sure that the pavements around your home a wide enough to accommodate a mobility scooter before you buy one.

There is plenty of information that can be found on the internet about mobility scooters and other mobility. However, as far as mobility scooters are concerned, one of the best resources is the Factory Outlet Scooters.co.uk website. The website displays a wide range of mobility equipment, from 4mph scooters to luxury 8mph scooters and wheelchairs.

If the pavements around your home are too narrow to accommodate a mobility scooter, you may consider purchasing a wheelchair instead. With a wheelchair, you will be able to leave your house and take public transport, as most companies in the UK have equipped their vehicles to welcome at least one disabled passenger.

Information about wheelchairs can be found on the internet. One of the best sources of information is the GBL Warehouse.com website. On this website you will find a wide variety of wheelchairs and mobility scooters, what's more you can also subscribe to the newsletter and purchase a wheelchair from the site.

Mobility problems do not only hinder a person's independence outside their home, there are also mobility devices for inside your home that will provide you with much help in your everyday life.

Stairlifts are probably one of the mobility devices that will most help you in your quest to live an independent life. Most stairlift manufacturers have a website, but Acorn Stairlifts.co.uk seems to be the site that will provide you with the most information about stairlifts. On this website, you will find a wide range of stairlifts to the property you are living in. The products manufactured by Acorn include outdoor stairlifts, curved stairlifts and perch stairlifts. Stairlifts appear to be a good option for anyone who has trouble with climbing up stairs.

Handrails and handgrabs will also help you climb up the stairs. They create extra grip for you whilst you are climbing up the stairs, but they can also be used when you have to stand up on a slippery surface, like in the bathroom for example.

Information about handrails and handgrabs for the elderly and disabled can be found on the internet, however, very few actually specialise in catering for that part of the population. The Handrail People.co.uk specialise in manufacturing and selling safety handrails and handgrabs for the elderly and the disabled. It is not possible to buy a handrail or a handgrab off the website, but it is possible to download an e-brochure that will detail the products available at the Handrail People.

Providing Care to Elders and Physically Disabled Members of the Family

Elder care is an important concern for people. After a certain age people face difficulty in several everyday work and they need proper attention and care in order to live their life properly. The contribution of parents and grandparents in making people a true human being and able to earn their bread and butter cannot be overlooked. So, it is people's responsibility to provide all required care their elders need. Therefore, in order to repay their elders, people need to ensure fulfillment of all essential needs for their elders.

Basic Needs of Elderly People
In adulthood people face various kinds of problems. They have to face several physical issues as well as some ailments or diseases caused by growing age. They need emotional as well as physical support from their children. In order to perform several everyday task like their morning and evening walk, cooking, or medical care they need assistance of others. Be it their diet or their medicines, someone has to be there with him to take care of all such needs.

Home Care Services - Accurate Solution for Elder Care
Well, it is not possible for people to be with their elders all the time. Therefore they seek external assistance. Some agencies working in the field of elder care or home aides provides help to such people. Depending upon their specific needs, people can hire live-in aides, personal aides, or medical care aides from such agencies.

Certified home care aides take care of their respective tasks related to elderly care in a professional manner. They understand that elder members of family do not only need physical assistance, but they also need emotional support from someone in order to spend their free time and deal with loneliness at home. So, professional agencies working for elderly care provides personal touches to their services in order to make it a pleasant experience for their customers.

Care for Physically Disabled Members of Family
Not only elderly members of family but also people facing some kind of permanent or temporary physical disability need proper attention and care. Live-in care aides as well as medical aides provides required amount of care and medical assistance to such needy people.

Agencies providing home care services recruit certified and licensed personal care aides, so that they can offer comprehensive solutions for elderly care as well as care for physically disabled members. That means after hiring services of home care agencies people no longer need to worry about proper care for their elders or physically disabled members.

Is It Time to Apply the 40-70 Rule?

The 40-70 rule emerged as a guide to help families talk to their senior loved ones about how they will be taken care of as they age and become more dependent, and about what both parties feel, think, and expect of their lives during this stage.

It is meant to be a way to improve the communication gap that may exist between adult children and their senior parents. The condition of aging commonly shocks family caregivers profoundly, because of the many difficult situations that come up during this phase of life.

Sometimes it can be very hard to talk to your dad about him crashing the car against a pole, or to ask your mom if she is taking all her medications as the doctor prescribed, or to find the way to tell your parents that they need more help at home. This is challenging even for families where communication is open and trusting, and in many cases what happens is that people decide to not say anything at all, leaving many situations unresolved.

Adult children have to learn to talk to their senior parents sooner than later, before a serious crisis is just around the corner or has already taken place, and this is what the 40-70 rule is all about. It helps families with senior loved ones deal with sensitive topics and difficult conversations right on time.

Basically, the rule is that if you are 40 and your parents are 70, you have to start talking about certain senior matters. This rule is based on the fact that 1/3 of adults in the United States have problems talking to their parents because of the prolongation of the parent-son role. Yes, many parents continue to have a very controlling relationship with their children, even after they become adults, making certain conversations quite difficult.

Do not wait until your aging parent is partially or totally bedridden, cannot understand you, or requires the help of a bariatric mattress to prevent bed sores; because sadly, this happens too often, and you end up regretting not having had the opportunity to discuss their wishes and expectations with them.

Get more information about the 40-70 rule; read this booklet, and get the help you and your senior loved one need.

The Caregiving Continuum

The caregiving continuum addresses the three major stages of caregiving-the pre-caregiver-one who is yet to enter the world of caregiving; the caregiver-one who is currently providing care, and the caregiving survivor-one who no longer actively provides care.

PRE-CAREGIVER

Most of us who have walked the road of caregiving would respond in disbelief if someone had told us we would be serving as a caregiver. The period leading up to our role as caregiver is unique.

Rarely are the steps taken definable as we answer the noble call of caregiving. Still, any information we provide about this pre-caregiver stage will illuminate and enable you to be prepared as you find yourself increasingly involved in a loved one's affairs and care. Meanwhile, professionals can use information directed to the pre-caregiver to better help families know what to expect.

CAREGIVER

Caregiving encompasses a broad range of duties.

It often starts when you care for a loved one at home, from a distance, or with help provided by an in-home care service and/or the use of adult day care services. As your loved one's care needs grow, you may choose the homey environment of a board and care, residential care home, or an assisted living community. When your loved one's condition declines further, you may need 24-hour skilled nursing care. Finally, while your loved one's life draws to a close, palliative care offered by hospice is often welcome.

Along the caregiving journey, you may need an elder law attorney to help you set up an estate plan and a durable power of attorney for healthcare, and an accountant or a tax advisor to help you manage your loved one's finances.

CAREGIVING SURVIVOR

Just as the journey leading to caregiving is unique; so is the journey after caregiving. Whereas, the statistics paint a grim picture of the number of caregivers who actually survive the experience, those of us who do, take each day at a time as we reconstruct our lives without our loved ones.

There are no set guidelines and each of us follows a different path. For example, some of us believe: Once a caregiver, always a caregiver. Many of us find ourselves helping others to navigate their own journeys or volunteer at local organizations where our knowledge and experience benefits others. Others of us choose to let time do the healing as life increasingly fills the void.

Bruno Stair Lift - North America's Leading Manufacturer of Stair Chair Lifts

One of the leading manufacturers of stair chair lifts that is based in North America is Bruno Lifts. The company provides to its customers a complete line of stair lifts and most of these are battery powered. The company manufactures different types of stair chair lifts for both residential as well as commercial use. The three most important benefits that are offered through the stair lifts manufactured by Bruno are comfort, convenience and safety.

The company is known to manufacture both straight stair lifts meant for indoor usage and also curved rail stair lifts which can be custom made. The company is known for manufacturing an exclusive outdoor stair chair lift which has a weight capacity of up to 400 lbs.

The company has a rich experience of over 20 years and it is manufacturing other products also in addition to stair lifts. These products include vehicle lifts that are used primarily by the mobility industry.

The company is committed towards improving the quality of life of its customers and it is for this reason that it is making ongoing efforts and is committed on an ongoing basis to take every possible step that can be useful in this direction. Bruno stair chair lifts are not just meant to be used by the completely disabled but they can be used successfully by all those people who have any degree of restricted mobility and may find it difficult to climb up the stairs.

The company has an extensive reach because of the worldwide network of its dealers and distributors through which it is possible to reach a large number of customers. The company is not known for its commitment towards offering excellent products but the company also provides for an outstanding customer service. In order to ensure that all the dealers of the company provide the services as professionally as the parent company, all the dealers are required to attend the professionally designed training programmes that are organized by the company.

Home Safety Precautions For People With Alzheimer's Disease

Discovering that a family member has Alzheimer's disease can be a sad and difficult discovery. This is a disease that is very difficult to deal with because it is so drastic and changes the person so much. There are a lot of home safety precautions that you probably have never considered before having a family member in the home diagnosed with this disease. However it is important that you begin to pay attention to these details so your loved one can live safely in your home for as long as possible. This article will outline some of the precautions that you should consider taking in your home. Many of these may seem excessive to you at first. It is up to you to decide what is appropriate for your loved one in your home.

• Always keep your list of emergency numbers near every telephone in the house.

• Make sure that you have enough smoke and carbon monoxide detectors throughout the house and that their batteries are functioning and have been replaced recently.

• Childproofing things like electrical sockets and drawers and cabinets is a good idea.

• Put away anything potentially dangerous or toxic in a locked and secured place. With this point you can never be too cautious. Once you realize that you should have locked something away, it's usually because it's already too late.

• Medications should be locked away from your family member to avoid that they take unneeded medication without realizing it.

• Hide a key somewhere on the outside of a house. There have been instances when a person with Alzheimer's in a confused state locks out their loved ones. If this happens you will have a key in order to re-enter the home.

• Make sure that you have adequate lighting throughout the home and outside the home.

• If you have a home security system be sure that the company is aware that you have a person in the home with Alzheimer's. Home alarm systems often have some kind of panic button installed and you don't want your loved one alerting the home security company when there is not an emergency. On the other hand, this function can be used by you and other family members if someone in the family needs to alert the home security company of a situation.

• Keep all floor areas free of clutter and things that could be tripped over. This could include cords, wires, throw rugs, and other clutter in the house.

• Consider installing an automatic shut off feature in your home stove. You can also remove the knobs on the stove and use them only when you are there to oversee.

It may not be necessary to make all of these changes right away. The important thing to do is stay aware and continue to observe the changes in your loved one. If it seems like it might be appropriate to make additional changes in the home at some point, then don't hesitate to do so. The safety of your loved one and the rest of your family comes first.

Buying Adult Diapers Online and in Bulk Saves You Money

One of the easiest ways to saving money on adult diapers is to buy in bulk. In fact, it's the most cost effective option for those with moderate to severe incontinence. Find an online store that carries hospital grade incontinence supplies, and you will generally find them less expensive than what you would find at your local stores. Not only are they less expensive, but because you are buying hospital grade products, you use fewer products.

For example, when you compare the absorbency of the incontinence products at your local stores, many of those products only hold a minimal amount of liquid. So, people 'double up' their diapers to try and make them more absorbent. This ultimately backfires because 'doubling up' causes skin conditions. Plus, you're doubling up your costs of the diapers.

When you use hospital grade adult diapers, the amount of materials in the diaper can hold, in some cases, up to 2 litres of volume! Of course, that is on the extreme end; for those living with heavy incontinence. So you would expect a product like that to cost about $4 per adult diaper, right? That's not the case.

For instance, the Unique Wellness Super Absorbent Adult Diaper will only cost about $1.50 per adult diaper - and can be worn for 8-10 hours! Many of our customers tell us that the products they are using, they change 7-10 times per day - at 90 cents per adult diaper. Look at the price savings - Unique Wellness Super Absorbent Diapers @ 3 changes X $1.50 = $4.50. Compared to the products available at your local stores @ 10 changes X 0.90 = $9.00 per day! Hmmm - what could you do with that extra money?

This is extremely important if you're living on a fixed income. Altho incontinence isn't guaranteed with aging, may of our seniors live with this issue. Many seniors are on fixed incomes. So, having cost savings like these are crucial to them.