Site under review:  http://foryourmobility.blogspot.com/

I have recently come across a blogger who is taking the time to discuss the mobility issues that the elderly and disabled in his community have to deal with on a daily basis.  His awareness of these issues has come from his ten years spent working in community health care in his hometown and it shows in his descriptions.  His blog is called  For Your Mobility, and here is an example of his insights:

I have been working as a community care worker for close to ten years now and this experience has given me the opportunity to experience the daily issues that disabled and elderly individuals must face in their own homes. One noticeable concern is that of mobility in and around the home. Many persons are sensitive of how tough it can be to move about the neighbourhood but dont seem to be aware of the challenges involved in getting around one’s own home.

Many people are not at the point where they need the assistance of an electric or electric wheelchair to get around their own residence but they do need the assistance of various mobility aids to live comfortably at home. For example, someone might require the help of a mobility walker to assist them in getting from room to room, or even just the assistance of a properly set walking stick to get around without trouble. I have had a number of clients who are not at the point of needing either a electric wheelchair ormedical mobility scooter but do necessitate the support of a walker to move about and to get out and about from their home and into the community. Someone who doesn’t require constant seating but who does need to be able to rest after traveling for a short distance benefits from the ability of the walker  to double as a sitting surface while outside doing their daily business.

When I came across his blog, he was discussing the prevalence of home lift chairs and how much of a difference they can make for those individuals with limited mobility but that can still get around without the use of awheelchair or a scooter:

Something that I remember one of my older clients having in his home was a powered lift chair. This was quite an impressive mobility aid. The concept behind the lift chair recliner is that it offers all of the luxury of your typical recliner but at the same time it makes it easier for folks with constrained mobility to sit down and stand up from their chair. The standard lift chair recliners allow the user to recline the backrest and the footrest of the chair but they go further than that. The typical lift chair also includes a lift control mechanism that allows the user of the chair to raise it up at an angle vertically. By doing this, the user is slowly and steadily raised up in the chair to a near standing position allowing him or her to easily leave the chair. The safety of the occupant of the recliner is ensured until it has finished moving because of the vertical rising motion of the chair. When the time comes to once more sit in the recliner, its controls can ba utilised to lower the chair, slowly and steadily, into a satisfactory sitting position. It is important that the chair offers the user slow and steady movement so that a feeling of security is maintained for the user. The home lift chair has also come to be known as the handicapped lift chair, however this is really a more pajorative term for it and is not a formally preferred choice of descriptive term for it.

For the sake of the comfort of the occupant, it is important that the lift chair is a suitable fit for the intended occupant. It is possible now to purchase, without much difficulty, a lift chair that matches the shape and size (height and weight) of the intended user. Failure to match the chair to the user can comprimise the user’s safety.  Speaking of safety, there are a small number of safety features built into most standard home lift chairs nowadays; Most lift chairs have a constant pressure switch built into their remote contol device. Thisis to make sure that the remote only activates when intended: if the handheld control should be dropped or similarly released, the up or down motion will pause, ensuring the inhabitant’s safety so that they are not unintentionally tipped out of or lowered into the chair against their will. One more safety feature is the battery backup: if, for whatever reason, there should be a lack of power to the chair – such as a power failure in the immediate vicinity – then the battery backup can kick in, allowing the chair’s user to continue operating the chair and not be caught there for any protracted period of time. From what I can bring to mind, the most familiar type of battery used for a backup in these chairs is the nine-volt. Naturally, just like with smoke detectors, it is essential to remember to switch the battery once a year even if it does not get used.

Clearly, he has picked up a lot of things in his time as a community care aid, however it is refreshing that he admits that there is always more to learn and I look forward to learning some of  it from him.