Follow
Share

She is able to help but there is nothing for her to pull on to drag herself up,

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
What we do is have a pull sheet (just a flat sheet folded) and since Mom has an electric bed, we lower the head and raise the feet. I then get behind the bed (at the head) and grab the sheet and pull her up. Hope this helps!
Helpful Answer (3)
Report

With Mother I put one of those wedge things at the bottom of the bed and elevated the feet. If you don't have an electric bed you can put those bed risers on the bottom bed legs. This really helped keep her from sliding.

It is difficult for one person to slide a bed patient up, unless you can lift the patient by having her put her arms around you and then move her back up. With two people, put a folded sheet under her and you each grab a side and slide her up this way. In the hospital nurses elevate the feet as much as possible to make sliding up easier. Gravity helps the slide.

Medicare paid for a plain, cheap bed and it was $35 a month for us to have the electric. Made all the difference for the caregivers' back, easier for Mom to get up from raised bed and really was more comfortable for her with the adjustable head and feet options. Good luck!
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

This is a more complicated option, but there are overhead rails that can be installed. She could pull up on the rails and hold onto them while inching herself back up. The rails would have to be anchored in the studs. And it would require that she has the strength to raise her arms and hold onto the rails. Sometimes older folks have limited mobility in their upper arms.

One of the problems with hospital beds is that they don't provide enough traction. I don't know of anything offhand, but there might be something like a large pad with Velcro strips that could be set underneath the sheets to create traction. Perhaps you could get one of the waterproof pads and either sew or hot glue (if you don't sew) some Velcro strips onto the bottom.

Another thought is to call DME suppliers and see if they have any kind of slide-proof pads for hospital beds.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

Something like these poles on either side of the bed might help as well (nos. 2 and 3):

rehabmart

Nos. 12 and 15 were what I was thinking of for overhead trapeze bars.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

Savinggranny has the right technique. Inching and sliding on sheets cause friction and skin shearing. Contact an experienced skin/wound care professional if this happens to get proper treatment. If you need to be taught how to assist repositioning, any good CNA can show you-they do a lot of physical work and know the best ways to keep clients safe.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

I think I have heard of something called a slide sheet or a glide sheet that you can put under the patient by rolling them from side to side and then pull them up toward the top of the bed then get the sheet out by rolling them side to side again.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

Katie222 I just finished using the "Z -SLIDER" to reposition FIL in bed. Got mine when MIL was patient in an HCA hospital last year. Used them frequently when I worked there years ago and swear by them. In the 1980s, we used thick, folded garbage bags to accomplish repositioning.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter