It’s tempting to settle for nightgown-type dresses for women when self-dressing isn’t possible, or when buttons or zippers are difficult to manage. Seeking comfort is a laudable goal, but living in pajamas or nighties can be pretty demoralizing, unless you’re choosing to do so as a special treat.
Category: At Home
There’s a fair amount of wheeled or semi-wheeled gear in my dad’s room at his nursing home, along with an extra chair that is generally used by guests. Most of this stuff is kept on the far side of the room, so that Dad doesn’t have to fight the gear he’s not using. It’s always a little tricky swapping out the pieces when they’re needed, but I really complicated things when I moved Dad’s phone and ran a line around that part of the room, creating lots of opportunities to get the equipment tangled up with the cord.
Blondie, my dad’s loyal companion, got a Christmas present herself this year: Oscar, a Golden Retriever puppy from the same company that made Blondie. Oscar (that’s the name Dad chose — on the website, the Douglas Company shows the same puppy named ‘Bella’) is full of spunk and personality. His arrival has sparked a lot of conversation — Blondie was clearly nonplussed when this little upstart showed up. But she’s learned to defer to the obstreperous youngster, and they’re fast pals now.
My dad’s old cordless phone was a mixed blessing. The ‘cordless’ part was great because it was easy to use anywhere in the room, but, like most of the cordless units available, the phone and its charger base were lightweight — the charger cord weighed so much more than the base that the phone was often pulled onto the floor.
A few generations ago, brushing hair was a crucial, and pleasurable, every day routine for many women. These days, few people have time for lengthy sessions in front of the dressing table, but even modern hair needs a good brushing and some attention now and then. Easy enough, unless you have a shoulder injury or arms that don’t like being raised above shoulder height, in which case there’s nothing easy about it; getting to the top of your head to shampoo, to brush, or to comb can seem like climbing Mount Everest (but with bad hair!).
Categories
Walking on Ice
We’ve been having an unusually mild winter this year on the east coast, and our current storm is only the second major one of the season. There’s been very little snow shovelling this year, and very little weather-related inconvenience. Under normal conditions, though, here in the mid-Atlantic area, we often spend most of the season dealing with ice, rather than snow, and a fair amount of ice-related bother.
After years of faithful service, my dad’s old reaching tool finally bit the dust when the grabbing blades somehow got twisted sideways, probably in an encounter between a power chair and the wall.
A couple of weeks ago, I picked this one up as a replacement. The central rod is gold-colored metal — yes, it’s a “Golden Retriever.” On the face of it, this was a natural for Dad — just the phrase ‘Golden Retriever’ pleases him immensely. On a more practical note, though, Dad prefers this grabber’s handle to the pistol-style of the old one. The Golden Retriever handle is kind of U-shaped — you put your hand into the U, with your thumb around a bar across the top. You pull a lower bar with your fingers to close the grabber. Very little pressure is required.
The flat grip, as opposed to the pistol-style grip, seems to give my dad a greater sense of control. (Although I’m not sure he’d feel the same way if he were reaching for cans on an overhead shelf — I think most people might prefer the pistol grip in that case.) The packaging says that you can pick up a dime with it. I haven’t tried that, but it does pick up a nickel from industrial carpeting, which I thought was a pretty neat trick.
Whether it can stand up to less-than-delicate use by dad remains to be seen, but I’m betting it will. The construction is solid, and the gripper arms look carefully designed, with sturdy fittings. Because it’s flat (the grabbers aren’t at right angles to the handle, as they are in the pistol-grip style), it’s easier to store, too, and, as a result, might be less likely to be squashed by an errant wheelchair.
Golden Retriever at ArfArf.com (I kid you not!)
Dad also has a different Golden Retriever companion at his nursing home — read about her here
Categories
Ergonomic, Adjustable Tableware
OXO makes a whole line of ergonomic kitchen supplies for anybody’s kitchen. People with arthritis, who have had strokes, or who have difficulty gripping standard tableware might especially like their ‘Good Grips’ eating utensils. The business ends are stainless steel; the handles are cushioned and ribbed to make them grippy. There’s a guard on the knife to prevent slipping, and minimal force is needed to cut. The shafts are adjustable to that each utensil can be individualy angled.
Aids for Arthritis sells a five piece set (fork, knife, soup spoon, two teaspoons). Click on ‘kitchen’ to find them — there’s no search function on the website.
You may be able to buy individual pieces elsewhere if you prefer — or if you want extras.
Also see: Silverware for Hands With Grasp Impairments — Dining With Dignty
A couple of months ago, my dad took a worse-than-usual tumble and reconfigured — maybe ‘destroyed’ is a better word — his glasses. Repair was not an option, so we went looking for new ones.
My husband just came upstairs with a reluctant bottle of vanilla in his hand, and one of our favorite tools — Craftsman Robo Grip pliers. We take our vanilla seriously, and these pliers are sensitive enough to rotate a sticky cap without risking one drop of that precious fluid. I don’t think there’s a better tool for the job.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the success of these pliers is due to the dual fulcra — they adjust two ways, ever-so-subtly, as you embrace the cap. (Or whatever — if you want to use them in a tool shop, that’s OK, too.)
Even better, it takes very little strength to make these babies work. If you keep a pair in the kitchen you won’t have to trek out to the garage when the vanilla bottle won’t open.
Available in various sizes at Sears, too, but if you hate shopping there as much as I do, try eBay.