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Kim C

Active member
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Messages
82
Reason
CALS
Diagnosis
07/2013
Country
US
State
KY
City
Nicholasville
We got a lift last weekend but have not used it yet. The folks that have been in--OT & a nurse- both say the lift shouldn't be used to transfer from a recliner to wheelchair and vise versa. That is what we want to use if for. We can get mom out of bed ok right now; what we need help on is the multiple times/day transfers from wheelchair to recliner and back. Sometimes I lift her 20 times a day and it is getting me down.
 
Call the manufacturer of the lift and ask them to send out a representative to show you how to use it to do the transfers. Other than that, it sounds like you can't use it. Return it and get something you can.
Unfortunately, we haven't found anything that can transfer from the recliner ( I hope you have a lift one) and the wheelchair. After 6 years of him not being able to walk we still use a 2 person lift. One under each arm.

Mary
 
Hi Kim,
Have you investigated a Hoyer lift? that is what is recommend in our area. My PT said never to try and lift a person under the arms--it is possible to damage the shoulders doing that. You may be able to get a Hoyer lift from the ALS association.

Rick
 
What on earth is their reason for not using a lift to move her back and forth between wheelchair and recliner? And why so many transfers in a single day? And why is the sky blue?
 
What kind of lift do you have. Do you have the make and model?
 
The lift is an Invacare 9805P. It isn't electric, it has a pump on it that has to be pumped in order to life the person. As far as number of lifts a day, we can get 4 lifts just going to the bathroom: lift from recliner to wheelchair; wheelchair to toilet; toilet back to wheelchair; wheelchair back to recliner. several trips to bathroom add up.
 
We don't have that exact brand or model, but its still the same machine. My wife hasn't stood for 6-8 months now and we use ours for recliner-chair, chair-bed, chair-commode for every transfer we do. 10-20 times a day as well. we have several different slings we use for different manuvers, and have even used it a few times to lift her off the floor when she fell. (that ones supposed to be a big no-no, but it saved us when there was no other option) I also built a fairly inexpensive lift in the bathroom (mounted) that lifts her out of a wheelchair and into a walk in bathtub. (the lift says "do not lift people" but it also says 450# capacity. :) ) If it will work, and save your back while increasing their safety I say do it.
 
Ah, that explains all the transfers. Any chance she will get a power chair with tilt and recline? That would cut the number of transfers considerably. A properly fitted power chair is as comfortable as a recliner and actually better for preventing pressure sores, foot swelling, blood clots, shoulder subluxation, and posture problems.

Also, I have found that using a bed pan by using the lift to raise me and sliding the pan under me is by far the easiest for all concerned. It can be a hard step to take emotionally, but when you reach the point of needing to have someone wipe your bottom for you, you might as well use the bed pan. Your privacy is gone anyway. And that cuts toileting to zero transfers.
 
The lift is an Invacare 9805P. It isn't electric, it has a pump on it that has to be pumped in order to life the person. As far as number of lifts a day, we can get 4 lifts just going to the bathroom: lift from recliner to wheelchair; wheelchair to toilet; toilet back to wheelchair; wheelchair back to recliner. several trips to bathroom add up.

We used that same model. There's no reason that it can't be used for wheelchair/recliner transfers provided that the recliner isn't too wide for the legs of the lift to straddle. If the recliner is too wide to straddle, you might be able to get one of the legs under the recliner and approach it from the side. You could even block the recliner up if necessary. I have used both the Invacare as well as a Hoyer and found the Invacare to work better - the wheels were large so it rolled much more easily and the control for letting the lift down was much better.

We also used the divided leg slings, which worked well for all situations and were the easiest to get positioned.
 
Quite often PTs and OTs know very little about lift-assisted transfers. Sounds like yours are in that category. Ours swore that we could never use a Hoyer to get into a bed that is perpendicular to it, yet we and thousands of others do it every night, by swiveling the cradle.

Unless your mom is very light and the pumping is no effort, I would spring for a power lift. You can buy them used/refurbs on eBay and the usual places; some of the e-tailers that sell them new also have periodic sales/discounts.
 
Quite often PTs and OTs know very little about lift-assisted transfers. Sounds like yours are in that category. Ours swore that we could never use a Hoyer to get into a bed that is perpendicular to it, yet we and thousands of others do it every night, by swiveling the cradle.
I totally agree. In our experience they also didn't know very much that was relevant to ALS. Most only know what they have been taught in their curriculum, and that appears to be very little related to the needs of a PALS.

I routinely transferred Annie directly from her pwc to her reclining position and placement in her hospital bed. It was very straightforward, and just requires some advanced planning about how you're going to proceed. You can do a dry run with just the lift to make sure you have clearance for the legs, adequate reach on the lift arm, maneuvering room, etc. Also pre-plan which direction you're going to rotate the PALS once she's in the lift to make sure you have clearance between her body and the parts of the lift. You'll probably want to rotate her into her new orientation relative to the lift before you raise the lift too high. That will give much better clearance, i.e., between her knees and the jack as you rotate her 90 degrees.

The most important and difficult part is getting the PALS positioned well in the sling. I started by tucking the back of the sling down behind her back, making sure it was tucked down as far as possible and centered. Then I lifted each leg and brought each leg sling up snuggly under the uppermost part of her thighs, then tugged each leg sling taut. Use the crossed configuration on the leg slings. It's much more stable and secure for the PALS, and yet allows the legs to be spread for using the toilet.

The bottom line is don't be intimidated by it. Just think the process through and tweak it using some dry runs.
 
Thank Everyone! I knew there had to be ways to transfer from wheelchair to recliner using the sling. We're going to work on this right away. I do agree our OT is a bit afraid of using the lift with mom, but she's not the one lifting 15x a day or more.

Appreciate all the feedback.
 
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