Home Accessibility Bucket List

There are two categories that most people fall into when trying to make their home accessible.

One category is where someone has suffered a life changing event such as a stroke, car accident or some other catastrophe. In this case, the person may end up in a wheelchair and thereby need their home to be made accessible to permit mobility equipment to be used inside.

The second category is where peoples’ needs slowly change over time and evolve from perhaps needing a cane to a walker to a stair lift to a wheelchair.

The needs for accessibility equipment could start with a stair lift so that one can access both levels of their home. A stair lift is mounted on the stair treads and there is very little alteration to the home. An exterior stair lift may assist with outside stairs if necessary.

The next piece of equipment that could be required may be used in the bathroom where perhaps a walk in tub is required. Ceiling to floor poles to assist with getting up from a bed or chair is also a popular device. A lift up chair is also common.

The real need for home renovations to make a home accessible comes when a wheelchair is required in the home. This is when a porch lift may be needed to get the wheelchair up to the threshold height of the doorway entrance. Any bump outside or inside the home is a huge barrier to one’s freedom in a wheelchair so utmost care must be used to remove the slightest bump. There maybe the need to widen doorways and bathroom renovations to permit a roll in shower is another common need.

One of the main challenges inside the home is how to move a wheelchair from one level to another. An inside elevator is difficult and costly to retrofit. An incline lift to carry the wheelchair up the stairs has many limitations from a standpoint of stairway width, strength of a load bearing wall, head room and space at the bottom of the staircase. Ceiling lifts are also available to move a person from a wheelchair to the toilet or bed with curved track cut through door headers. If a wheelchair user is seriously considering making their home accessible the advise of a knowledgeable person within the accessibility field and an occupational therapist is a must.

There are so many factors that that make up the bucket list to make your home accessible. Each person’s situation is somewhat different. The most important part of the process is to find someone you trust to give you the proper advice.
Look for a company that can grow with your needs, offer recycled equipment and accepting trade ins as your needs evolve over time.

Ceiling Lifts – 10 Key Tips

Ceiling lifts are a unique type of patient lift that lifts a person up and transfers them usually from a bed or toilet to a wheelchair.  Major advances in product design have resulted in many options which have expanded the solutions for clients in need of transfer devices.  Prior to ceiling lifts, a floor mounted patient lift was the most common lifting device used.  Patient lifts are difficult to move on carpets, somewhat difficult to use for both the end user and caregiver and are a constant visual reminder to the family of the disability.  Ceiling lifts are less visually apparent, easier to use that floor mounted patient lifts and have more flexibility in use and application.

Ten Key Ceiling Lift Tips:

1. A portable ceiling lift permits the caregiver to move the lift device from room to room thereby giving the patient flexibility in use than a permanent mounted ceiling lift that is attached to the track.

2. Curved track allows for a ceiling lift installation to accomodate more complicated needs of the client and room application.  An example would be that a client could be lifted up from the bed and be transferred to the bathroom via a curved or straight track installation.

3. Some ceiling lift tracks can be attached to pressure fitted posts that go from the floor to ceiling.  There are also telescoping type tracks to cover a 12 ft. distance over a bed.

4. Ceiling lifts are electric powered (permanent models) or battery operated (portable models).  Many models have an audio beep when the battery is low and needs charging.  Most battery operated models will allow for the patient to be lowered when the battery is depleted.

5. There are a variety of slings available.  They range from a basic hammock sling to a walking type sling.  Most ceiling lift users prefer two slings.

6. Ceiling lift manufacturers have increased they installer certification mandates in the past few years.  There are two areas of safety concern within the patient lifting industry.  One is the proper training of caregiver staff in the use of slings.  Most of the institutional setting accidents have occured with a patient falling out of a sling due to improper sling application with a specific client’s physical needs.  The other area of safety concern withing the patient lift industry is the proper installation of the ceiling lift track.  Specific installation instructions to the installer needs to be followed such as unistrut placement, track joints, bracket spacing and fastener specifications.

7. Unique options are being offered by most ceiling lift manufacturers.  Such options as;   Automatic return to charger station, turntables to permit multi directional applications, special door header devices, stretcher slings and teloscoping rails.

8. Consolidation of ceiling lift manufacturers is a trend.  The company that owns Argo, (large instituational patient lift supplier) purchased BHM Medical (ceiling lift manufacturer) a few years ago.  Handicare (Europe based company) purchased Romedic (patient transfer supplier) last year.  More consolidation of the ceiling lift industry is anticipated in the coming years. This is a good trend in that the research and development departments of these firms are large enough to develop more advances in product design which can only but help the end user.

9. Government regulation is a possibility.  In North America, the FDA (USA) and Health Canada have insisted that the industry regulate itself at this point in time.  This has resulted in the ceiling lift suppliers insisting on installer certification in the past year or so.

10. Ceiling lift prices have been dropping in the past few years for a number of reasons.  The increase in knowledge about ceiling lifts as being available has increased the size of the market thereby decreasing prices due to economies of scale in manufacturing.  Supplier consolidation with veritical integration has also had a bit of a downward pressure on pricing.  Upward pressure on pricing is coming from installer certification which is eliminating a good percentage of the companies handling the product. Also, the pending government regulation of the product could dramatically increase the pressure to rise prices.