Helpful products...

Mom liked her fleece sheets too SnoopyLove, I wish they would let her have them in the NH.

True North micro fleece sheets (from Bed Bath & Beyond) have been wonderful for my dad. I happened to read about them in a post on this website. Dad has difficulty maintaining his temperature due to his spinal cord injury, and his flannel sheets just weren't cutting it. Now he is snuggly warm at night.

Slide sheet! Just the most unbelievably effective and helpful invention of all time, ever. Yes, you can do a similar job with an ordinary plain old bedsheet; but the slide sheet I mean is the loop type in slippery polyester - you could move two tonne Tessie across the bed with one of those, and whip it out from under her after with never a fear for her skin integrity. Magic.

It's often little inexpensive things that are used every day that make a huge difference - after mom lost her eyesight her talking clock and watch and a little gadget that buzzed when she had filled a glass or cup. Special hinges that allow an extra inch or two of space through a door. Little skis on the bottom of her walker that, unlike the ever popular tennis balls, allowed her to glide over carpet. Our Superpole that allowed us to have a good handrail where there wasn't a wall to attach a standard grab bar.

Years ago someone gave me a catalogue from a company selling adaptive equipment and I was astonished at the number of helpful devices I had never heard of. You can search for stuff online today but usually you have to have some idea what is available and you are less apt to stumble across random items you never realized you needed. And you can't count on your occupational therapist either, pretty much everything that was most useful I found myself through research.

Search online with keywords: dementia clock! It helps those that can no longer read an analog clock with hands know what the day of the week is, and the period of the day (morning, evening, etc.) the month and the time. It is a digital clock. It is very easy to set up, to reset when needed, and can be seen and read from quite a distance. I am very happy to have been able to give this to Patrick.