Several months after my dad arrived at his nursing home, a new resident showed up. Sharon (not her real name) is a chatty sort — lively and friendly, with an open manner and a helpful heart. She has Alzheimer’s, so conversations with her tend to be circular, and her own contributions often repetitive.
Every day when I visit my dad, I’m reminded again that even something as simple as clothing can be a means of stimulating communication in a nursing home. One resident in my dad’s nursing home is always dressed head-to-toe in coordinating fleece or velour. Though the clothing is simple, the pants elastic-waisted, and the jackets large-buttoned, she somehow always looks, well, elegant.
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.
Trips are a big deal at my dad’s nursing home. The recreation department does a great job of scheduling a variety of outings that otherwise home-bound residents can enjoy. Finding the right venue can be a challenge sometimes, though. Take the pizza outing, for example.
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!).
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
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 dad no longer walks more than a few steps with assistance (and not at all without it). As a result, he no longer gets even the minimal exercise he got when he could walk with assistance from his room to the dining hall in his nursing home. Now that his power wheelchair has been decommissioned, he’s also lost much of the freedom it gave him.