Toileting Assistance: 2ND MOST FREQUENT MOVEMENT TASK

In a report sponsored by the National Alliance for Caregiving to identify ways technology can support family members and friends who help sustain elderly, disabled, sick and recovering patients, a panel of national experts and government officials used a "task matrix" to understand the frequency of demand for assistance with movement. HELP TO/FROM THE TOILET was the SECOND MOST FREQUENT TASK, only behind "Help in/out of bed/chair." Perhaps another indication of the need to improve the bedside commode, a common toilet substitute for the mobility impaired? Catalyzing Technology to Support Family Caregiving, http://www.caregiving.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Catalyzing-Technology-to-Support-Family-Caregiving_FINAL.pdf

Dropping Caregiver Ratio: Who Will Provide all the Anticipated "Aging at Home" Care?

A new study released by the Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement, "Retirement Care Planning: The Middle-Income Boomer Perspective," found that U.S. unpaid caregivers provide approximately $450 billion worth of care to someone who is ill, disabled or aged. Among middle-income Boomers, four in ten have been a caregiver to a parent or spouse. Among these caregivers, 77% cared for a parent, and nearly one-fourth (23%) cared for a spouse.

Although they primarily relied on doctors and nurses to perform medical caregiving, Boomer caregivers found themselves quite involved in personal caregiving needs, such as:

• Assistance with eating (79%)
• Assistance with getting in and out of bed (78%)
• Assistance with using the toilet (69%)
• Assistance with dressing (68%)
• Assistance with bathing (56%)

Our thanks to Grand Villa of Delray Beach East for making this information generally available via Twitter!

Good article on reasons for low pay of home health aides

Our thanks to Robert Hiltonsmith for his analysis of the reasons for the low pay of home health workers. I would add that another reason might be the fact that the reference price for paid home health work may be the unpaid family caregiver. And that group won't be able, or won't be willing, to sustain the coming aging of the baby boomer generation as the caregiver ratio drops (AARP report, “The Aging of the Baby Boom and the Growing Care Gap.") http://www.demos.org/blog/7/22/14/how-home-health-care-aides-are-microcosm-jobs-crisis

The way it has been: TIME FOR A CHANGE??

Home medical equipment for many people needing toileting assistance consists of using a transfer board to move from wheelchair and/or bed to a commode and back again. Height cannot be adjusted, and the picture below depicts the design solution for keeping a transfer board from shifting. It does not appear that the average care recipient will be able to position this equipment without assistance from others.

Time for a change?

Assistive Toileting: A New Standard of Care?

As my mother aged at home, my family struggled when it came to her toileting care. Like many, the bathroom was too tiny to accommodate her wheelchair, so that solution was out. Nor did the layout of the house lend itself to remodeling; besides, the cost was prohibitive. Upon discharge from a skilled nursing facility, she was given the choices of a patient lift (she was not happy about the prospect of being swung through the air), adult diapers (again, not happy), a bedpan (no one thought that was a good idea) or a transfer board-bedside commode solution. Deciding that the latter preserved most of her personal dignity, she chose the transfer-commode combination. However, we soon came to realize that there were two obstacles preventing her from getting herself on/off the commode: she could NOT (1) manipulate the height of the commode (once set, it remains at the same height); NOR could she (2) anchor the transfer board so it did not shift as she moved along its length. This meant that she still needed assistance when she needed "to go."

That lack of full independence meant that my sisters and I had to be responsive to her "on-demand" toileting needs, a source of frustration in an otherwise very loving and supportive family environment. When she passed away, we thought, "Why wasn't the commode more manageable for her to get on/off by herself?" Drawing upon our experiences helping her, we came up with functional solutions to her commode height-transfer challenges.

Naively, we thought that Home Medical Equipment (HME) companies would be interested in solving a problem experienced by many care recipients and their caregivers, particularly if the solutions were patented (U.S. patent #7,562,400).

However, we soon came to understand that, despite all the talk about the importance of entrepreneurs and innovation, it is VERY hard to bring new products to market, especially in healthcare. Companies want to see "proof" that there is a market. That's where advances in social media, such as this blog, may prove to be instrumental in launching functional improvements in home medical equipment.