At HomeCARE Furniture by ComforTek we have been manufacturing homecare furnishings like mobility dining chairs and mobility assist chairs that enhance the lives of the caregiver, as well as their loved one who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia.
As a manufacturer of homecare chairs, we have paid close attention to the needs and challenges that a caregiver might face on any given day when they are taking care of their loved one because any task that was easy before your loved one’s diagnosis is likely now quite difficult. Day-to-day activities that you once never even thought about are now seemingly impossible obstacles, and you find yourself simply trying to get through the day.
Because we know and understand the difficulties associated with providing Alzheimer’s care to a loved one, we have done our best to create a mobility assist chair that tailors to your needs and your loved one’s needs in the dining room and kitchen.
In part one of today’s blog post, we will be discussing the four major challenges that we have identified for caregivers to those that suffer from forms of dementia like Alzheimer’s.
Challenge One: Safely Moving The Seated Person To, And From, The Table
Patients that are suffering from forms of dementia like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s spend a lot of time at the table — much more time than they likely once did. Why? Well, it is not the same for any two people affected by Alzheimer’s, as some simply eat slowly due to their degradation in motor functions and others suffer from visual and auditory issues that make it hard for them to eat.
While a loved one affected by Alzheimer’s may take a long time to eat, it is not getting them to eat that is the hardest task, but rather, is the act of physically “scooting” them in to, or out from, the table. This can be difficult for many reasons, as the flooring material, chair, and the weight of your loved one all contribute to the difficulty of moving your loved one while they are in a chair.
Luckily, there is a solution. After years of hearing stories from caregivers about the difficulties that they have experienced in an effort to try and get their loved ones to and from the table, we felt compelled as a homecare furniture company to develop a line of homecare dining chairs that address this issue. Our mobility assist chairs like the Craftsman Assist (V-4), Titan REZ - 20” (V-4), Contessa 100 REZ (V-12), and the Titan Swivel REZ - 22” -SH18” (V-1) are all equipped with a mobility assist lever that allows for the caregiver to gently lift their loved one on to rolling casters, push or pull their loved one from the table, and set them down gently once again. To compare our homecare chairs and to see what product would be best for you and your loved one, click here.
Challenge Two: Assisting Someone Who Requires A Walker To Sit At The Table
Often times, as the effects of Alzheimer’s begin to manifest themselves, it can become quite difficult for your loved one to walk without your assistance or the use of a walker or rollator. Once your loved one loses some of their mobility, they become dependant on alternative means to get about the house, making it extremely important to purchase equipment that can better allow for helping your loved one sit and stand.
When your loved one is trying to sit down at the table while using a walker or a rollator, the chair will have to be pulled out from the table a rather large distance to ensure that they can get the walker between the chair and the table. By pulling the chair farther from the table, you can successfully help your loved one sit down — but you are creating another problem in doing so. Now, you have to push your loved one even farther to, or from, the table.
Is there a solution that we can provide you here at HomeCARE Furniture by CoforTek? Yes, there is! One of our mobility assistance chairs that we discussed earlier, the Titan Swivel REZ - 22” -SH18” (V-1) is the perfect solution to aiding your loved one in sitting down from their walker. Simply pull the chair slightly out, swivel the seat to the side, engage the locking mechanism, seat your loved one, and turn them back towards the table. To view a video demonstrating this process, click here.
Still unsure if you need a swivel dining room chair with casters? Compare our homecare chairs and mobility assist chairs online today.
Why Create Mealtime Homecare Chairs?
Every once and a while people ask us, “Why do you manufacture mobility assist chairs that are specially marketed to the kitchen and dining areas of a home?” While our chairs could work adequately in any room, we find the kitchen and dining room to be the most important. At HomeCARE Furniture by ComforTek we manufacture mobility chairs that keep families together longer, and what better way to do so than to foster a safe and enjoyable mealtime.
In addition to tailoring our product to the idea of keeping families together, we also chose to market our chairs towards the kitchen and dining room areas because of their sheer functionality. One of the most common ways that elderly people and people affected by Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia is falling when sitting or standing from an awkward position. So what have we done? We got rid of awkward seating positions and made mobility assist chairs that negate the need to sit down from an awkward position.
We hope that you learned a little bit more about our mobility assist homecare chairs and how they might benefit you in combating the first two challenges that we have discussed in this two-part blog series. We hope that you stay tuned for our next blog post where we will discuss two more common challenges that caregivers face, as well as how our mobility assist chairs can help.
To browse a full list of our mobility chairs, click here. If you have any questions about our homecare furniture, please don’t hesitate to contact us.