In preperation for later

[Broken down Cowboy]

Can any of you Pals tell me how wide interior doors, like the bathroom and such need to be to accommodate the type wheelchair I'll be needing when things require that mode of transportation? I am talking about later when things are bad. Also I just found out that I've been OK'ed through the VA for benefits and for home modification......Seems like a ceiling track system and lift is a good idea, I'd appreciate your thoughts on this as well.

Thanks for the help.

God Bless Us All. Glenn

 

[affected]

Glenn the best way to sort all this out will be to get an OT come and do a home assessment.

There's lots to take into account and they are good at knowing them all. For example, my Chris's pwc would fit through all our doorways, BUT he could not get to most of the house because the hallway was too narrow for the chair to turn into a doorway.

Our OT was fantastic at looking ahead and helping us plan what could be done here with the least fuss or cost (we had no funding to draw on) and we had a home modifications service come and give lots of advice too as they are the ones that do most of the disabled access work on people's homes.

There is nothing like someone 'on the ground' to sort out specific issues and think solutions.

We chose for Chris to have everything set up in the lounge room as it was big enough for all his equipment, and for manoeuvring hoists and all his gear. He was in the centre of everything all the time and he was happiest that way. As he proved to be rapid progression it was the best choice for us (and I emphasise for us because each case is different). We would not have had the time to wait for paperwork and tradesmen to do any work had we opted for larger scale mods.

 

[Nuts]

Glenn, the VA will send an OT out to your home to do the assessment that Tillie suggests. You'll want 36 inch wide doors, but instead of replacing our bedroom door we were able to get by with offset hinges, which added two inches of clearance.

Additionally, someone from the VA will visit your home, look it over, and tell you what changes you must make and recommend others. We were given this document: http://www.benefits.va.gov/WARMS/docs/admin26/m26_12/ch07.doc
Note that most of the recommendations here can be waived, but your particular inspector will be able to tell you which he'll waive.

The ceiling lift does not get done with the SAH grant. It is purchased and installed by the VA Hospital prostethics department. Do you have a VA hospital nearby? They will also install ramps and/or vertical platform lifts if required the same way, allowing you to use the grant for actual construction (we gutted our bathroom completely and created a wet room shower area). Equipment=prostethics purchase Construction=grant
Construction under the grant is a very long process, so find your contractor and get the plans drawn up as soon as posssible. We dragged our heels so long that we had to just do the construction ourselves and then have the VA reimburse (which goes to the mortgage holder, not back into the account the money came out of).

Becky

 

[GregK]

I believe my interior doors were upped from 32" to 36".

The VA grant will require such mods. Get with the wheelchair folks first and they'll put in any needed front door ramp.

 

[cheerleader]

The prosthetics department will put in one ramp for the wheelchair- ( ours was in the garage ). The adaptive housing grant will require a second ramp so there are two ways to exit the house. At first our agent wanted us to put in an outside elevator/ lift from the bedroom- but we were able to convince him to exempt us and okay a 2nd ramp from our front door instead. They can exempt other things as well. Yes, 36 inch doors are required by the grant - but not in rooms not used by the pals.
As Becky said, this is a long process. Start now. The adaptive housing agent will guide you in the requirements, such as roll in shower, wheelchair accessible bathroom vanity, etc. good luck.

 

[MaxEidswick]

>Construction under the grant is a very long process, so find your contractor and get the plans drawn up as soon as posssible. We dragged our heels so long that we had to just do the construction ourselves and then have the VA reimburse (which goes to the mortgage holder, not back into the account the money came out of).


Ditto that!

 

[Broken down Cowboy]

thanks friends, so much good info.......guess I'll cool my jets till i go down and get set up with the VA. The Gal who's been helping me at the Paralyzed Veterans office told me my rating was in the mail, and when it comes...to head on down and register. I'm good and lucky cause we got a VA hospital right in our town......bout 20 miles or so from the ranch.


one step at a time....but i will not dally. God Bless Us All. Glenn

 

[Nuts]

Glenn, one of the hardest things for me to wrap my head around was how generous the VA is with equipment. The folks at Durham are brilliant, and they suggest items I'd have had no idea about. Our first few weeks were a bit of a whirlwind, and to be honest over a year later I'm still not always sure who is initiating what when something new comes up. If one must have is awful disease, having the VA is an incredible blessing.

 

[gooseberry]

Cowboy, the va prosthetics dept, after our home visit, provided an interim shower chair,grab bars,bidet seat,ramp of heavy foam for our front door, aluminum ramp for the garage, and a rubber ramp and aluminum threshold cover for the sliding doors to screen

The va sah housing inspector person came out. For sah, $70,465, we are doing new flooring, new vanity and sinks/countertops, new shower, new toilet and remote control bidet seat, windows, french doors, and new sliding glass doors.

For hisa, interior doors being widened, second bath vanity replaced with sink to roll under,new countertop and floor. $6800 thru prosthetics.

You can apply immediately for your van. However you will need to have seen a va doc to get a referral to driver rehab. They also will refer for pwc measuring. It is best to start everything. It takes a lot of perseverance and following up to make it happen even if you use a pva rep.

 

[gooseberry]

Oh, they told us that a hoyer lift or ceiling lift couldn't be ordered until a hospital bed was ordered for myhusband. Some of these things go together. They will also order bed wedges for comfort, grabber nabbers to help you pick things up, dressing sticks, spli ts if your hands cramp,walkers,commode chairs,etc.

 

[Atsugi]

...You can apply immediately for your van. However you will need to have seen a va doc to get a referral to driver rehab. ...

When we showed up at Tampa VA hospital for an all day clinic, they sent us directly over to get measured for the wheelchair and sent us over for the driver's assessment same day.

 

[gooseberry]

Mike, they are no longer doing all day clinics. I asked the pulmo about it and he said it exhausted the patients and often they were seeing doctors or providers they didn't need to see. What they do now is request you let them know if possible, the week before an appointment, who else you feel you need to see. The als team meets on Thursday so they get everyone on board then with fitting people in on the day of appt. Etc. This system has worked very well for us.



A lot of our things like pwc measuring took place during the inpatient assessment.

 

[MaxEidswick]

>It is best to start everything. It takes a lot of perseverance and following up to make it happen even if you use a pva rep.

Ditto that!