My father had a stroke three months ago, leaving him needing 24/7 hour care and assistance. His right side was affected and he currently cannot walk without assistance. He fell a few times at the rehab facilities, which made us worried when he was discharged to come home. (Note: I’ll be writing soon about how my dad was discharged too early due to his insurance (Medicare Advantage) and how to avoid the problems we faced there.)
At home, he has tried to get out of bed in the morning, forgetting he cannot walk. He’s also tried to get up from his wheelchair thinking he can make the distance to a nearby couch. Thankfully, we’ve been able to prevent any actual falls by taking the steps below:
1. Bed alarms for fall prevention
A bed alarm sounds when it no longer feels pressure from someone laying down on it. This is really helpful to use at night so you can be alerted when your parent tries to get up. This is the one I use — I like this one because it’s longer than others so if my dad turns in his sleep, it doesn’t go off. It’s been very reliable so far. It comes with a monitor that chimes (it has a volume control as well). It’s been really easy to use and always startles me awake.
2. Chair alarm to prevent falls
You can use the bed alarm on a chair, but it tends to be too large to be as effective. So I got this chair alarm to use so we can be alerted when my dad gets up from the chair. It gives us enough time to get to him because we’re never too far away.
3. Motion camera
Since my dad needs constant supervision in case he impulsively tries to stand up, I use a Blink camera to watch him periodically so I don’t always have to be in the same room. I like the Blink mini so far because it has motion detection when armed. This allows me to get a notification when there is movement and I can check the feed. I also want to check out the Ring camera as another option.
4. Gait belt
To help my dad stand to transfer or do physical therapy, we use a gait belt because he needs support. You can use one with handles like this one, but I found the simple one here works a bit better.
5. Constant reminders and reorientation
Right now my dad has become more aware of his boundaries, leading to fewer attempts to get up. Because of his dementia, sometimes he does forget when he wakes up or throughout the day. So we spend a lot of time reminding him and constantly reorienting him to his situation — even though he gets angry and protests. It does seem to stick and it’s worth the time it takes to keep him safe.
Note: Some of the links I post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and buy the items, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Even so, all my opinions are my own and I never recommend products I don’t believe in.