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My mother-in-law has Parkinson's and although she has it mostly under control, recently she has had trouble getting in and out of her bed. They delivered a hospital bed this week that was supposed to help her, she is still having trouble getting in and out. I am looking for any suggestions or other equipment that may help. We have tried having her user her walker, but it isn't stable enough to help her push herself up. She has a cane, but that doesn't help. She has a dresser within reach but when she grabs onto it her soft hands slip and I am afraid she will fall using this. Any suggestions are appreciated! Thank you!

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We have to help my mother get in and out of bed and we have to help her walk, and everything else, but I’m wondering if your mother not being able to get out of bed has come on fairly suddenly? A UTI in an older women can have very different effects, it can make them more confused or weak or more immobile. I thought my mom had went to a worse lvl of her dementia this past week, she was unable to walk at all, and very unresponsive, I finally took her temp and it was a little high. I brought her in for a UTI and after 1 day of antibiotics she is eat, talking, singing, and able to stand again. This may not be your issue, but it’s good info to have. 😃
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We have to help my mother get in and out of bed and we have to help her walk, and everything else, but I’m wondering if her not being able to get out of bed has come on fairly suddenly? A UTI in an older women can have very different effects, it can make them more confused or weak or more immobile. I thought mom had went to a worse lvl if her dementia this past week, once unable to walk at all, and very unresponsive, I finally took her temp and it was a little high. I brought her in for a UTI and after 1 day of antibiotics she is eat, talking, singing, and able to stand again. This may not be your issue, but it’s good info to have. 😃
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BTW, my mom is on hospice so I figure her comfort is the biggest concern
at this point. I was not trying to recommend for a person to use long term.
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Recliners are great for naps but long term use can lead to nasty bedsores or serious back problems. Please be aware of the hazards of going that route. Best wishes.
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Get a PT consult to come to the house and show you how to help, and no, holding on to the dresser or a walker is not the right solution. They do make some special poles with grab handles - just google for bed pole grab handle and you'll see lots of products. There are traditional patient lifts with slings and a different design called EasyPivot that would help one person safely assist as well.
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My mom is past all the coping ideas that work great but she just cannot help
herself any more so I have to.
We got the Golden Technology Cloud lift chair / bed and it has been such a blessing. It is soft and has infinite positions. I cannot lift and position her in
bed anymore but the draw sheet really helps. The chair is very expensive but it has saved us having to use a facility and it costs less than a month at a facility so I call it a bargain. Once she gets into the chair, she can sit, recline, sleep , watch tv, etc. The chair will stand her up to get out, then all we have to do is turn 1/4 and sit in wheel chair or whatever.
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Can you get physical therapy into work with her ? Have her PCP write an order for home health and get physical therapy to work with her ,
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My mother age 87 cannot get in and out of bed and now sleeps in her Lift chair. That is also the only way she can get out of a chair. I cannot lift her she is too heavy for me. She seems to love her chair we got an expensive comfortable one and its been a Godsend.
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I just learned this trick from an ot. My mom has recovered from broken hip,has Alzheimer's/deme entia. Ot showed me have mom walk up to hospital bed with her walker to where the side bed rail is. Have her hold on to bed rail with BOTH hands then rotate her so backside is to side of bed, take steps back until legs touch side of bed. Release one hand and put on bed then sit down. Make sure hospital bed is a good height for her to sit easily. Here is the trick. While sitting grab BOTH hands back on bed rail then the natural movement is to turn on side as u bring up both bent legs. It is a natural movement awkward as it sounds. Then with knees bent, feet flat on bed put hands to side flat on bed, push up with feet, lift butt slightly shimming body up closer to pillow. Then relax legs and feet. The side bed rail has been a good sent
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Oh wow, this is a tough one. My Mom doesn't have Parkinson's, so can't speak to that. But she has vascular dementia and experienced peumonia which led to a heart attack in Dec. She had all of her allowed Medicare PT in rehab after the hosp., but then moved into LTC with no therapy due to the Medicare being used up. Meanwhile, in the ____ LTC facility, she has had 2 very bad falls and developed an extreme fear of falling. Sometimes even stiffening up when we'd try to help her. In the weakened state, transfers in and out of bed are super difficult. I hired a Trainer to teach me exercises to help get her some basic strength to make the transfers easier. We're just in the beginning phase of this and they are chair exercises. There's also supposed to be some sort of transfer-assisting board you can get that I'm going to try to find out about. Basically the LTC therapists "gave up on her", despite NOT having done any bedside or chair exercises to maintain her strength which to me is unconscionable. After the 2nd fall, they finally put down a soft mat beside her bed (even though I had requested it upon admission) There are so many issues in eldercare. To think she was walking with a cane prior to Dec.
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A fall could be your worst nightmare at this time. I have a transfer wheelchair for mom. All four wheels are small. remove feet petals. Portable commode is next to her bed. Adjacent arms on hospital bed and commode are removed for an easy stand, pivot, sit rotation. This is two feet behind her door. I have a shoe rack hanging on her door with all her paper products, baby wipes, pull-ups, bags for garbage can, my gloves supplies, vaseline, disposable chucks for bed, etc. I have lowered her risk for falling, maintained her privacy and independence using the bathroom, given her the wheelchair to maneuver around the whole house, put longer chains on her bedroom ceiling, kitchen ceiling fan, remote on living room lights on the bookcase as you enter so she can turn on lights. I also have a security can on her in her room that I watch her in real time from my cell. I feel good now going out to eat with a friend, shopping, 2 a.m. roll over and peek in. Keeping them as independent and safe for as long as possible makes it easier on caregiving. Good Luck.
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Thanks for the Halo tip, Evermore - just had a look and I wish I'd know about them. Clever.
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We had good luck with a Halo - a gadget shaped like a boat wheel and attached to the hospital bed. It's less in the way of a rail, but can also help to prevent slipping out of bed (assuming the patient keeps her head close to the headboard).
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Amazing things are possible if a person has sturdy things to grab. A typical trapeze is very flimsy- one caller begged us to get rid of his "killer trapezes" as two snapped and fell on his face. For PD (and other balance related issues) I feel a SuperPole or balance pole of a Friendly Bed to be most important- a great aid to grab in standing and then maintaining balance. A wobbly bedrail may be enough to help some people needing minimal assistance but can be unsafe (there are no safety rules for homecare equipment). Always glad to offer suggestions if I know the situation.
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Just an idea, but you can get a trapeze device attached to the bed for the person to use to reposition themselves but it does require upper body strength on the person’s part. I think this requires a doctor’s order first. 
Good luck!
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About the Golden Cloud Chair....our hospice nurse said "No" we cannot use it for her bed. She must have the hospital bed for her bath and any other care she needs. The bed must be able to have height adjustment for the convenience of the care giver.
So that thwarted my wonderful plans to use the Cloud chair to solve all our problems.
Now I have found there is such a thing as "Personal Care Home". It is a regular house where the elderly live with CNA live in helpers 24/7. It is family style.
It looks like a wonderful step to care when I can no longer lift her and situate her.
I can care for her 95% of the time- it is just the 5% that still has me stumped. She fell trying to get out of bed a couple days ago so I am feeling big pressure to change her care to the next step. Today she was sliding and thought she was going down when I was trying to get her up.
I still think the Cloud chair would give us the "time space" to continue at home
if we could figure a way to raise and lower the chair. I shopped for lifts but to
no avail. A pallet jack only raises 6 inches. A car jack would have to be welded
precisely to accommodate a recessed platform.
The nurse does not like the idea at all.
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too many responses so I'll just put mine and hope it's not a repeat. It seems there are a number of ways to describe a 'sit to stand'. My mom has dementia and can no longer stand. We started with the hoyer from the bed to the wheel chair but potty breaker were impossible so we now use a sit to stand. It can be done as a one person assist, better with two, just in case. Obviously your mom can't use it alone. This is not going to solve your immediate problem for her to do the transfers herself but it sounds like she will need someone there to assist her in the near future. In home care agencies are a plenty so before you consider a 'home' look into getting help during the day at various times. You might also convince her that adult diapers will greatly help her situation so she won't have to get up so much. Good luck
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My mother has been sleeping on the couch for years. Maybe this is the reason. Also, now she wants a table rather than booth when eating out. I knew these days were coming but they came too fast. Wishing you the best, this journey is hard.
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A word of caution on sleeping in liftchairs- good for naps and such but not good for long term sleeping. I get calls from people with bad bedsores because they can't reposition in a liftchair (bedsores are very nasty). Not good for backs long term- had a caller that slept in recliner for years and the therapist tried to convert him back to bed. His back was too screwed up and he was in terrible pain laying flat- had to give up. Also had multiple callers contact me (crying) as they looked for solutions to sleep in bed again. Recliners are good but not as a full replacement to sleeping in bed.
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The Golden Lift Chair: the "Cloud'' model is what we got & we really shopped around. We got it larger than they suggested but they didn't have our selection in a med. & sm. wasn't as comfy. We ended up ordering it online from their factory ( in the u.s.) so we could get just what we wanted, some material upgrades, heat & massage, etc. They made it and then delivered it. It was still reasonable, with everything we got & has been worth every penny.

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Can you tell us the name and model of the wonder chair?
Thanks so much
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dbcatz, Your answer sounds great. My mom has same problems
and I think you have hit the jackpot answer. The only problem is
my mom cannot blow the whistle, so we got a little bell that rings loud.
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Get a good lift chair! We have a hospital bed too & mom won't sleep in it. We got a super comfortable lift chair, it has a zero gravity position that takes pressure off the spine & can be adjusted in many positions including just about flat. It also has heat & several message settings to help with circulation. It will lift almost to a standing position & can be locked if we don't want her getting up on her own. We have a baby monitor to hear in the other room & she wears a whistle in case we're sleeping or out of range. We got good one, a little pricey but worth every penny. She loves it!
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I also have trouble getting out of bed. She needs a twin bed with light small blankets, a grip bar to pull over and up with. I also roll around.
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my wife the same. I drilled a hole in the bottom angle iron bedframe and attached (3/8"bolt) a 2"x6" board that sticks up about a foot above the bed about where her waist would be in bed. It prevents her from falling out too and she can pull herself up when in bed. I also built a carpeted ramp from the foot of the bed floor level rising to about a foot towards the head of the bed. Being a few feet from the wall I built a 1 1/4" pvc handrail attached to the wall with 5" lag bolts. Hope this helps
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Rosemary- it is fantastic to have your husband exercise to that extent but many folks aren't that fortunate. For safely getting in/out of bed I always considered a SuperPole (or balance pole of a Friendly Bed) to be the most important item for people with PD. However that does nothing to help the repositioning problems of being in bed (and the risk of caregiver injury as MaryMerry describes). Proper assistive products like bedrails/trapezes can be a huge help for that but be careful of the cheap junk on the market. Any time a person can safely "help themselves" is much better for them and likely the key to preventing caregiver injuries. Always glad to offer suggestions if I know the particular situation.
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I use a "draw sheet" draped across the middle of the bed. She sits
onto it and lays back into the bed as close to the head as possible.
Then I lift her feet into the bed, and roll her over facing the other side. Then I go around to the other side and pull the draw sheet
again to get her situated better.
Getting up is the same procedure backwards. I use the draw sheet
to pull her into a sitting position. The hospital bed head raises to
assist in the sitting procedure.
This is not perfect but it has helped for this moment. All this lifting is hurting my back so I do not know how long we can do this. If I were younger and stronger, I think it could work a long time.
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Glad to see this posting is back. Proper assistive products may be the perfect solution to keep people safe and at home- no one really wants to go to a nursing home unless necessary. A uncomfortable hospital bed or fancy adjustable bed does very little to help with mobility problems. Hoyers should be a last resort- they can be awkward/dangerous and accelerate decline because muscle use is decreased. Would be glad to offer suggestions. Lots of options so the suggestions would be tailored to the situation.
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We put a sturdy drawer handle mounted onto the side rail of the bed so she can grasp it to help pull herself toward the edge.
We also put a short step stool for her to step up on to climb into
the bed.
Slick sheets like rayon or silk are easier for her to slide on than the
cotton ones that create more friction.
I have considered hanging a rope from the ceiling to the middle of the bed so she can use it to pull up on. If you do that, I would
recommend tying a knot every 6 inches or so.
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my wife is the same. what I've done helps quite a bit. Her side of the bed is 2 1/2 ft from the wall. I constructed a carpeted ramp (2 1/2 ' wide) about 4' long beginning at floor level at the beds rear and elevated almost foot to where she can easily sit on the bed and swing her legs in. On the wall at waist high I installed an angled hand rail made out of 1 1/4" pvc and 6" lag bolts going through the pvc and into wall studs -cheap and works well. I'd send you a picture if I could
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