h
There are lots of flat, flimsy tab lifters around to use when opening soda pop cans, or cans of soup or tunafish. I find holding on to most of them nearly as difficult as trying to pry the tabs up in the first place. That’s why I like this tab lifter so much. The handle is nice and robust — very easy to hold just by curling your hand around it.
The other night when my husband was searching our bookshelves for a copy of Eros and Magic in the Renaissance (don’t ask), he found a copy of a marvelous book I’d picked up years ago. Handmade Helps for Disabled Living (by Stuart Grainger) is a compendium of ideas and projects designed to make living with various disabilities easier.
A few weeks ago, in celebration of National Nutrition Month (that would be March), one of the dietitians at my dad’s nursing home hosted a informational get-together for residents, staff and family members. I wasn’t sure what to expect — probably I had in mind some kind of a part-lecture, part-seminar type of thing — but it turned out to be more like a party than anything else. A party with a message — no, a party with several messages, only some of which turned out to be about nutrition alone.
Visits to a nursing home are a critical component of caring for a resident, and rewarding for everyone involved. There’s no denying, though, that they can be difficult as well. If the visits are daily, the difficulties compound — how do you make the time interesting rather than dull and repetitious? Conversation can falter, imagination fail. How do you make interactions mentally stimulating?
When coordination is difficult, whether from age, injury, surgery or a disability, playing can be the best medicine. These marble run sets are made of wooden blocks with grooves or holes. You stack and arrange the blocks so that marbles roll through them, practicing dexterity all the while.
Hand tremors can make eating an insecure business, and mealtimes frustrating and unrewarding. When trembling is not too severe, weighted tableware can make dining a more pleasant experience again, instead of a discouraging struggle. This fork is part of a standard set of four pieces (fork, knife, teaspoon, soup spoon). Each piece can be bought individually, or the four can be purchased as a set.
This tableware looks very much like standard silverware — an advantage for people who may be self-conscious about using a dining aid. The individual pieces are a bit thicker than ordinary utensils — one-quarter inch high by one-half inch wide. Each weighs 7.5 ounces; heavy enough to sooth mild tremors, but not too heavy for most people to eat with. The set’s stainless steel and dishwasher-safe.
Weighted Utensils at Dynamic Living
At some point during the time when my dad used a cane, it became essential to get a walker to use when we went out. Sometimes he had to walk a little further than he comfortably could with his cane, and sometimes we were in situations when he really needed to sit for a while. Having the walker made that possible.
Ah, IKEA, how did we ever manage without you? On our last visit we picked up another one of those basic essentials for good living — a long-handled shoehorn. No household is complete without one — but IKEA, as ever, carries the idea one (dare I say it?) step better: This shoehorn is a serpent. Turn it so that the hook faces you and you’ll be looking directly into the snakely visage. A shoehorn with a sense of humor — it’s what the world needs now.
Omsorg Shoehorn at IKEA (it’s on the Singapore site, but in stock, this week at least, in Plymouth Meeting in the good old US of A).
Making life better and easier sometimes requires looking at things you accept as perfectly ordinary parts of life and considering them from a completely different perspective. This post is about one of those things — the baby crib you may have slept in when you were little, and the one you may be considering using for your own child.
My dad has a serious problem with falling, and a worse one with recognizing how much danger this represents to him. Because he doesn’t acknowledge his physical difficulties in this area, working around this limitation is a high priority for everyone who cares for him.