My mom needs help safely getting to the downstairs laundry room. A stair lift would be too expensive and require code enforcement to get involved. I saw devices online that use a rail and have a handle or gait that a person can hold on to to get up and down stairs. One is called Assistep. Has anyone had one installed in the US or NY state? The units I see are from overseas.
If mom is living alone and she has dementia as you mention in your profile I am of the belief that a person with dementia should not be living alone.
Now that that is out of the way....
I just googled this stair system.
2 thoughts.
I can not imagine trying to use this and go up or down stairs toting a load of laundry!
Is she going to "get" how to use this stair system?
I think the safest thing is any of the following.
*Laundry gets sent out.
*A caregiver is hired to stay with mom and the caregiver can do laundry as part of her job. Mom can help folding, putting things away...but the dragging laundry up and down the stairs can be done by someone else.
while you look for a facility . Mom can’t live alone anymore since she gets confused . I hope someone already has POA.
PS Duh! Halfway down the stairs on the way to do my own laundry, I just realised that you couldn't hold a laundry basket at all, as both hands are needed to hold on to the stair assist device.
This made me laugh!
I think my knees are conspiring against me - if it's not one, it's the other playing up. They're taking it in turns, which I suppose is better than them both giving out at the same time!
After my mother broke her hip 4+ years ago, I had a chair lift installed and it's been the best money that I've spent. She's 97 now and we use it every day. It has a seatbelt that I use so she doesn't fall off of it.
I would consider doing what most people do in the UK - have a washing machine in the kitchen. We tend to use smaller front loaders, although they can be difficult for a frail person to bend over to deal with.
My stepdad uses a grab stick to put the laundry in and out. He doesn't fill the machine with too many items and washes every other day on an economy cycle. The clothes are then hung out on an airer in front of an open window. They don't take too long to dry if given an extra spin. (I live in a studio flat and I can barely hear my machine, except when it's on the fastest part of the spin.)
It's not ideal, but it's safer than negotiating stairs with a heavy load of laundry.
The alternative is to spend the money a stair assist would cost to buy and install on a home help or laundry service.
Looking back, a smaller stackable w/d could easily have been made to work in her kitchen and she would have had no need to ever go downstairs at all.
I was THRILLED at age 64 to have found a home that had the laundry on the main floor! I am embracing the aging before it really hits me.
If this stairlift was just for her to move up and down stairs, it'd be fine, but once you add a basket of laundry--IDK, it really wasn't a 'win' for my MIL.
Your Mom will worsen, and it could happen overnight. She needs to be placed in a nice Memory care if she can afford it. Otherwise a nice LTC facility with Medicaid helping.
A stair lift can be purchased used but even IT is not safe for an elder with dementia and diabetes!
Focus on getting her in home help or into Assisted Living instead of how to get her up and down a nasty staircase!
Good luck.
Sorry, I don’t know anything about these stair devices.
I wouldn’t focus on how she should get up and down the stairs. Focus on either finding full time caregivers for her in her home or looking into facilities for her.
What is her overall floor plan? I hope that she has a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor.
Best wishes to you and your family.
I was asking if anyone has any knowledge of these devices or knows if they are available in the US.
Thanks
https://www.fortunamobility.com/stairsteady
https://discoun2stor.top/ProductDetail.aspx?iid=371959380&pr=80.88
I hope we will find someone with this specific answer, but even the best stair device in the world will not assist an elder carrying laundry. And certainly the cost would be enormous.
As to what devises are extant in your area google is going to serve you best and they will be happy to come to your home, assess, give you demonstrations and etc.
But again, to expect anyone to do anything other than get a body safely up stairs and down them again isn't realistic in my own humble opinion.
If you find something that works after your researching this I hope you will let us know. And I hope someone will here come forward to say they are familiar the with products you mention.
Time to find another way to get laundry done. You might be able to move the washer and dryer upstairs to a converted closet and lock the basement door so she can’t go downstairs. But then you still have the problem that it may not be long until she doesn’t know how to use a washing machine.
She may need hired help. She may need to be in a facility where her daily tasks are done for her. Or you may need to arrange for her to send the laundry out.
I see that in your profile your mom suffers from dementia and from diabetes.
That adds two very serious concerns to the normal aging process concerns.
As an 81/83 year old couple still with stairs, laundry is possibly one of the most dangerous things we do and we are well aware of that. Even with holding onto rails there is little to save one from a fall, as the shoulder will simply be wrenched away from the socket, and you are down.
Moreover balance is poor and you are maneuvering weight and bulk.
With the added diabetes, any injury from doing laundry is like the end spelled for your mom.
I wouldn't allow her to do laundry anymore. It should be hired out or done by you or someone should come in to do it.
I don't know if your mom currently lives alone or with family, but in either case its time to think about going into care or having more care coming into the home. Working with lifts and devices just adds another level to the aging brain and the balance issues.
I sure wish you both the best.
Aside from that, I want to add that when doing the laundry got to be too much for my mother, she began sending the laundry out once a week. The laundromat picked it up and delivered it. Maybe sending laundry out to be done is something to start considering.