As life expectancy increases, more and more people are choosing to spend their senior years in their own homes, rather than entering a care facility. While this may seem simple enough while they can care for themselves, when mobility begins to decline, the situation because a lot more complicated. Oftentimes, a family member must step in to provide additional care. If you’re responsible for providing care for a loved one with limited mobility, it’s important that you find ways to preserve their quality of life while also protecting your own—and ceiling lifts for the disabled can help. Keep reading to find out how.
The primary purpose of a ceiling lift is to aid in transferring patients from their beds and into their wheelchairs, or between the wheelchair and another secure surface. Performing these transfers without a lift can be hard on both the patient and the caregiver, and there’s a significant risk of injury to both parties. Ceiling lifts eliminate the need for unsafe lifting positions that strain the caregiver’s body and present the risk of a fall. They allow the caregiver to move their loved one with minimal risk of back injury or other issues.
And, of course, the reduced risk of falls and other accidents occurring during a transfer means the patient is safer as well. Those with limited mobility typically have a medical condition or existing injury that can make them more prone to further injuries. The last thing these patients need is an accident that causes further issues with their mobility. Ceiling lifts provide smoother, more controlled transfers, giving patients greater peace of mind and easing the burden placed on caregivers.
Mobility challenges can have a significant impact on not only a patient’s body, but their mind as well. The loss of control over their own bodies can affect their self-esteem and their overall emotional well-being. When a loved one has to step in to provide help with simple, everyday movements, the patient often begins to feel like a burden to those around them. A ceiling lift offers a simpler way for the patient to move around. While it still requires the assistance of a caregiver, the patient can often perform some of the transfer tasks themselves (like securing the sling around their bodies) so that they feel more independent; and, because the caregiver isn’t under such physical strain, the patient is less likely to feel like a burden to those they love.
Additionally, the gentle, steady movement of a ceiling lift reduces the patient’s pain and discomfort compared to the less-consistent, jerkier movements involved with a manual transfer. This can be especially helpful for patience with conditions like arthritis, or muscular dystrophy, as well as spinal injuries. Ceiling lifts can also be equipped with a number of different slings in varying styles and materials to ensure the user is as comfortable as possible.
Patients aren’t the only ones in the patient-caregiver relationship who sometimes feel a little powerless. Caregivers can also struggle with the feeling that they’re not capable of caring for the person they love, and that they are failing them in some way. If they’re not strong enough to perform manual transfers, they may feel like they aren’t capable of providing the care that their loved one needs. But ceiling lifts can handle the physical demands of the transfers, allowing the caregiver to perform these tasks much more easily and provide the necessary assistance for daily care routines.
This kind of independence can help a caregiver feel more confident and capable, while saving their mental and physical energy for providing other forms of care for their loved one.
For patients with mobility limitations, ceiling lifts provide the chance to participate more fully in daily activities. When a person doesn’t have to be confined to their bed, due to transfers being safer and easier to perform, the patient is more likely to participate in simple activities like eating a meal at the kitchen table, playing a card or board game or doing a puzzle with a family member, or watching a movie together in the living room. A ceiling lift can help them feel less separated from their family, and more included in the household’s daily activities.
For those with limited mobility, personal hygiene can be a major concern. When the simple act of getting in and out of the bathtub or shower feels like an insurmountable obstacle, the person is much less likely to maintain their personal hygiene as they should, even with the assistance of a caregiver. These daily hygiene routines become shorter and less thorough in favor of simplicity, and this can lead to health problems—particularly if the patient is bedridden. Individuals whose skin isn’t clean are much more likely to develop bedsores and skin-related infections than those who have a regular hygiene routine.
Having a ceiling lift makes getting to the shower or tub much simpler, safer, and easier than with manual transfers. In fact, the track can run from the bedside directly to the tub or shower, eliminating the need for a wheelchair in these instances completely. This makes daily hygiene routines more accessible to those with limited mobility, and makes assisting with these routines easier for the caregiver as well.
Ceiling lifts for wheelchair users offer numerous benefits to both caregivers and patients alike. If you’re responsible for caring for a loved one, installing one of these devices in the home (whether it’s your home or the home of your loved one) can drastically improve quality of life for both of you. Contact Southern Mobility Solutions today to learn about the different types of ceiling lifts we have available, and schedule an assessment to have one installed for your loved one.
