Products That Make The Job (Eldercare) Easier

Ignore the crazy products commercials for eldercare on television! Most of what they are peddling to the poor, lonely, impressionable senior citizens are not worth buying. 

But…there are absolutely products that have helped me do The Job with both of my parents. Let’s look at what I suggest you buy or build to improve the overall lifestyle for your elderly loved one.

Mom Is Healthy, But Getting Older

As you know, loyal reader, Mom is the healthiest 93 year old person on the face of the planet. My house should probably be considered a “Blue Zone” on the planet if you look strictly at Mom and her lack of medications. However, even the healthiest senior is facing physical issues that will make it harder for them to manage independently without some assistive devices you can provide them.

Plus…there is the dementia…

Safety In The Bathroom

You and I both know that the kitchen and the bathroom are the most dangerous rooms in the house for the elderly. Not only are these smaller spaces, where a fall could include a bump on the head against a drawer, but the floor itself is much less forgiving tile, as opposed to the soft carpeting in the rest of Mom’s area. Let’s look at the basics of outfitting your bathroom with these eldercare products:

Fixing the toilet

• Lifting the toilet – Pop did this well in advance of them needing it, but lifting the toilet itself—just an inch or two—will do wonders for them to get up and down on to the seat. As the years passed, between Pop’s kidney removal recovery and Mom’s broken hip, lifting the toilet became about the single most valuable thing we did to improve their lifestyle. 
• The famous “Squatty Potty” – Have you ever heard that old wives tale about someone dying on the pot because they were constipated and struggling to go? Yeah, well, I know somebody it happened to. Seriously! And with their systems and organs slowing down considerably and not working as efficiently as they used to, these genius products should be in every house (and not just for eldercare). 

Grab Bars

Another product that could even help us as fully-functioning adults in the bathroom and shower, you need to install several different levels of grab bars so that your loved one can move around the area securely. Everybody faces balance issues, but they are extremely prevalent and dangerous to the elderly, which makes grab bars an absolute requirement in your house and mine. 

Rugs

I learned the hard way not to skimp on rugs, particularly in the bathroom. Make sure you are buying a tighter knit with a no-skid backing, to minimize the chances of your loved one getting tripped up by the rub outside the shower or by the sink. 

The Floors

We have several flooring treatments in my house, and I’m guessing your place is about the same. While we have carpet in hallways and bedrooms, we have tile in all of the bathrooms. Then, I put hardwood flooring down on the first floor and throughout the kitchen area. So many different floors to navigate and keep Mom safe from.

Getting a close-knit carpet

When we upgraded the carpet as Mom continued to age, I made sure that we didn’t get something with too much “shag”, because I was worried she would get caught in the deep pile. This turned out to be a great choice, because she would have had a terrible time managing the carpets with her walker. She’s already not steady—it would have been much worse.

Is hardwood/tile better?

I love my hardwood floors, and really like having tile in the bathrooms. I support both of these choices, and Mom, and Pop when he was recovering, have never had a problem getting stuck or hung up on either of these surfaces. The problems came in when I added throw rugs in some areas. I ended up having to pull all of them up, which caused more wear and tear on my flooring, but was significantly safer for them. 

Clear the clutter

The fantastic Luna Belle loves her ropes and chew toys. Unfortunately, she’s as bad at putting them away as a toddler, so they are often lying all over the floors. It’s important that you keep anything—not just dog toys—put away, so your loved one doesn’t get tripped up by them. For both of my parents using walkers during recovery, their focus was always on the space ahead of them and not the floor, which could have been disastrous if we had anything on the floors they could have tripped on. 

The Most Common of Eldercare Products: Mobility Devices

Nobody, but nobody, wants to need a mobility device. It really upsets the elderly and makes them feel, well, old. But, please, get both of these in advance.

Getting that walker

We started Pop with the smallest, lightest, cheapest walker we could find when he had the kidney removed. By the end he—and now Mom—use a full-sized walker complete with brakes, a storage spot and a comfortable seat. Whereas once she pushed it away in disgust, the walker has helped Mom maintain at least some of her independence in The Facility.

The “just in case” wheelchair

If your insurance will do it, please get the wheelchair. While neither of my parents were ever wheelchair-bound permanently, the wheelchair came in extremely handy when we traveled with both of them as the years passed. It also made it much easier for Mom to continue to go shopping in big box stores and the mall with her private nurse after she broke her hip.  

Eldercare Physical Therapy Products That Help

While both of my parents balked at the concept of physical therapy, they were both aided by their therapists, and I continued the treatments long after the professional had left our house. Consider adding these to your closet…

Bicycle style trainer

Have you seen that small miniature bicycle pedal device? It’s small, inexpensive, and multi-use! Pop used it after the shoulder cancer was removed, and Mom used it to build up her leg strength after she broke the hip. It’s easy to do and not at all strenuous.

Resistance bands

These very inexpensive products always make me think of my brothers winding up a towel to smack me in the butt, because these resistance bands can be extended very far. Both of my parents—and Sweet Husband—have used these in physical therapy, and the easy exercises can be done anywhere and anytime. Definitely worth keeping in the house. 

Hand/ankle weights

Another low-cost and very helpful product is the one-pound weights you can use on your wrists or ankles. Just wearing these weights around the house can help your elderly loved one to build and maintain arm and leg strength without doing anything different. Frankly, I think we could all use these!!!

Technological Eldercare Products

We learned the hard way, and several times, that technology is not always friendly to the elderly. Not only were my parents of the “old generation” that didn’t like or understand technology, but they had no tolerance for learning how to use it. 

But…technology is here, and we all need to become comfortable with it. At least a little…

Getting a SMART phone

My parents went from a flip phone to a Smartphone to a flip phone to absolutely no phone. It was an ugly, uphill climb that I never reached the top of the mountain on. Near the end, however, we solved the problem (at least to a small degree), by literally finding a senior citizens phone from T-Mobile that didn’t do much more than give them the time and call me or 911.  

Remote Controls

Oh…the battles with the remote controls…At this point, Mom doesn’t even have a remote control in her possession. It is hidden in her apartment, because she lost three remote controls within the first two weeks of living at The Facility. Still haven’t found them, by the way. So, just like with the phone, find the most simple version you can, and help them get comfortable with just the basics. 

It’s All About Frustration

Everything in this blog is focused on exactly one overarching goal: Minimizing the frustrations that the elderly feel. We need to help them maintain their dignity and independence as long as we can, and the products and suggestions in this writing will help them do that. Those grab bars, for example, let Pop shower independently for quite a long time, and the bicycle trainer really did help Mom keep her muscles strong enough that she can at least walk with her walker now. 

They are losing so much, on a daily basis, that we as Mayors owe it to them to give them as much support and assistance as we can, while we still can.

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR!!!

Wow! You made it! Thank you for reading about eldercare products!

Hey, since you’re here! You may as well check out questions for severe dementia, here, or if you’ve read that, check out managing medicine strategies, here! Or maybe you want to hear more about Pop, here. Or, check out our other topics here! Either way, I appreciate you!

Please leave a COMMENT about any tips you may have!! Or comment with YOUR story! Any dementia stories? Let me know!

Please, feel free to contact me or leave a COMMENT with anything you would like to hear more about! Or reach out with any unrelated questions, comments, concerns, or random outbursts of excitement by clicking here.

Oh! And don’t forget to check out my video series by CLICKING HERE!!!