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gooseberry

Extremely helpful member
Joined
Jul 2, 2014
Messages
3,501
Reason
Lost a loved one
Diagnosis
5/2014
Country
US
State
FL
City
Tampa
Initially it didn't seem like much, a bipap here, a peg tube there. Today a physical therapist did a home eval and based on what he saw recommended ramps, hospital bed, new flooring, new manual and power wheelchair, lift for van, new trilogy and cough assist machine, commode chairs, shower chairs........the list goes on. It was a bit overwhelming.
 
It can be very overwhelming. I would check with your local ALSA and/or MDA chapters and see what they have in their loan closets. I got loaned ramps, bidet, toilet/shower seat, power chair until I got mine. I know they have lifts. PLEASE check with them.

Additionally, a local Boy Scout troop had an Eagle scout candidate and he did a project and built 2 ramps for me. They also pulled weeds, cleaned our garage and shed and raised over $700 for the local ALSA chapter.

Don't hesitate to search and/or ask for advice on this forum.

Doug
 
When you go to the Va appointment, they will order all that for him except the car. You should get a letter qualifying him for the van, and any home remodeling. Unfortunately you may have to act on things quickly, as it takes a while to get the ramp people out, 6-8 weeks to revamp the car ( unless you get one already revamped!), and MONTHS to get the paperwork done for the remodeling! And they will measure him at the appt. for the wheelchair in prosthetics department. If that isn't on his schedule, you need to ask to have it done!
Take your list and be sure all is ordered. The physical therapist, occupational therapist, social worker and prosthetics are the main people to do the ordering. I know how overwhelming this all is - but you are a tough lady! Deep breath, my dear! You are not alone!
 
It is overwhelming. We usually got new equipment in 2 or 3 at a time.

I moved a large amount of furniture out of the house, and had one spare bedroom that was just floor to ceiling stored furniture and stuff.

The house looked more like a hospital. BUT it was so much easier to just move furniture out, have wide areas to get the pwc and other stuff around easily, and everything we needed was in places that were easy to get at. All this made the entire situation of caring so much simpler. If you gotta do it, get everything set up with his care as the centre focus, and you take a lot of stress out of the whole thing.

This is all the anticipatory planning that we need to do as a CALS. I hope the processes don't prove too overwhelming for you though. Breathe deep, remember this is good, being proactive saves crisis situations xxx
 
I am curios, we have just purchased a new home and will be doing some major remodeling. What type of flooring is recommended and what other things will I want to take into consideration?
 
Actually, yeah I'm curious what they said about your floors?
 
He recommended smooth surface. We currently have carpet and tile. He said laminate was the best because it didn't scratch and added some sound proofing. Next was hard wood floors and then tile.

We looked at some laminate online yesterday...Pergo is the brand we were checking out.
 
Several items will be ordered now..like the ramp people to come out. the pt took all the measurements needed so he can just order them so the installation is all the would be scheduled. Quite efficient I think. What got my husband was the speech assistive devices discussion and the repeated recommendation for the hospital bed for my husband. We have a king size bed isn't willing to dismantle it and move to a hospital bed. It really caught him off guard. The reasoning for it was his declining breathing and decreased ability to walk.
 
We were given the same advice. Carpet will wear badly with a pwc. Be sure you widen the doorways if possible. It will make it much easier with the wheelchairs. Pocket doors are best if they work in your rooms.
 
Pete, they recommend at least a 5x4 ft roll in shower with no lip. This allows for a reclining ,rolling shower chair. A vanity you can roll up to with a pwc. They prefer wall mounted due to access. Check your doorways-he said chair widths are at least 26 inches and you need turning room. We have doorways/arches that aren't that wide. You should have 2 entrances/exits that are wheelchair accessible with ramps and a concrete walkway to them. Many features like remote controls are offered and can be fitted for things like lights, sliding doors, etc. He said the VA would be sending someone out to do their assessment. This was a functional physical therapy one. I can't imagine what the next one brings.
 
Donna, our house is 10 years old and none of our door ways are standard. We have 2 that are 36 inches so that is good but a few that are 28 inches so they will be on the list. He told us about a HISA grant available thru the VA that lets you do some work up front that is separate from the main housing adaptive grant. We will look at that and I asked for someone to come while Steve is getting his assessment. That way the floor and possibly the bathroom work could be done. There isn't too much to be done there. But boy do I need to do some purging:)
 
The sensor faucets that turn on themselves are great and a bidet toilet will help with cleanliness as the arms decline.
 
Steph, we used our HISA grant in Florida for the bathroom. It doesn't go far but....helps. If you pm your email, I'll send you pictures of our newly remodeled bathrooms here in Michigan. Breaks my heart that Joe never got to see them.
 
We asked about a bidet since Steve, once he got what it is for, really, really wants one. He will need it soon. Hadn't thought about the faucets but that is a good idea too.
 
He recommended smooth surface. We currently have carpet and tile. He said laminate was the best because it didn't scratch and added some sound proofing. Next was hard wood floors and then tile.

We looked at some laminate online yesterday...Pergo is the brand we were checking out.

Some home eval folks don't get the difference between flooring needs for a manual chair and a power chair. A manual chair requires hard flooring to reduce the effort of propelling or pushing the chair. A power chair will move just fine on carpet and there is no need to replace it.

Inexpensive carpet may in time show wear from the power chair. We had moderately priced carpet through 15 years of power chair use and finally had to remove it a couple of months ago -- not because of wheel chair damage but general stains and some cat pee from a very insecure new cat.

The only downside of carpet with a power chair is the dirt tracks when coming in from out doors. I would not recommend hardwood floors. They will scratch and wear from grit on the tires. They can be refinished about three times though that is an expense added to the very high price of hardwood.

I don't get his statement that laminate will add sound proofing. Laminate is notorious for being noisy. Every footstep is loud!

My advice is not to replace anything unless moving walls or widening doorways makes it necessary. Just keep it and when it does need replacing, put in whatever you prefer. A power chair won't hurt it in all but the very long term.
 
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