Lifting Mechanisms

[martin007]

Some people need (sooner or later) a mechanism that allows us to get up, get up.
There are many mobile cranes on the market that are really not very practical.

Do any of you have a "fixed" lifting mechanism?
Do any of you have a self-made lifting mechanism?

[Burgerman]

No. I have a patient lift. Due to the NHS being super wasteful with taxpayers money and little clue what they are doing I actually have 3.

Works very well actually. Make sure it can lift you high enough. Make sure it has adequate "reach" to miss the chairs foortrests etc, make sure that its legs/feet/wheels will go under anything they need to do. Such as my electric bed.

[steves1977uk]

I have two ceiling hoists, one in bathroom for toilet and bath, the other in bedroom (which I hardly use since it causes hip pain lifting up from a flat position), so my family and PA's prefer to manually transfer me from/to bed since it's quicker and easier. I do have an electric bed so I can make it level with my chair seat.

Steve

[Burgerman]

You must be skinny! My carers would have a hernia doing that!

[steves1977uk]

I'm not exactly skinny BM! I weigh about 12-13 stone so not lightweight! I can use my left leg to take my weight, since my right hip is dislocated so can't use my right leg easily! But we manage, although the OT's over the years have tried different slings over the past 25 years, but none seem to work or cause me major discomfort which ends up making my right hip stiff for weeks on end back in the 2000s-2010s.

So nowadays I tend to find manual transfers are better for my right hip since I don't use my bedroom hoist hardly, but Social Services insists it stays there!

Steve

[Burgerman]

Fair enough.

You do understand though that social services are there to support you and not to tell you what to do? They can make suggestions. If you want the lift out, just do it and tell them to wind their necks in.

You were probably joking. So I am not really talking about you. But to the many people that really do not take control over their lives and really do think that someone else is in charge and can/should tell them what to do! I meet one or two that are very institutionalised in this way this quite often. They really do think that people like the social services, nurses, wcs, council etc are there to tell them what to do. They are products of the nanny state, they do not understand that its their life! Everything is their CHOICE. They never seem to grasp that they can do whatever they choose to best suit themselves! And just go with the narrative.

I was asked to help program a chair for a freind of a freind last year. Seems to happen quite regularly. It was bashing in door frames, hurting hands, crushing feet etc, all as per usual in stock vague delayed action mode. Or stock hovercraft mode if you prefer. They are all like that! So she was barely moving it all day long. Its frankly restricting and dangerous. She was terrified that WCS might "find out" someone has messed with it.

Some just do not get life at all. 10 mins later there was the usual amazed look on face! Set to speed 1, (she didnt believe it would actually move or steer) she could ACCURATELY and slowly get from bedroom to kitchen with chair precisely following the joystick, without smashing into door framess or it failing to move/turn or whatever, for the first time after many years. Same look on her face I see every time. Took a year for someone to convince her it was "safe" and "allowed" and was still super nervous about what the WCS would think. I told her they dont.

Those that are institutionalised, that think everything is someone elses job or responsibility and that the "experts" know everything live very restricted and controlled lives. They just dont get that its THEIR job to make decisions, break a few eggs, do as they choose or decide. Stuff the "rules"... Do what is best for you in your own opinion.

[Burgerman]

Heres what I use. 3rd time lucky.

1st attempt I made the mistake of allowing a team of NHS experts assess me (! they couldnt assess a rice pudding) to sort out which lift. It arrived, and didnt lift high enough to get me off the bed. And didnt have enough reach to get me back far enough on the chair.

2nd time after measuring everything except the important stuff they ordered another one. After it arrived I discovered that they didnt check the height if the gap under the bed so the wheels wouldnt fit.

3rd time I decided that they were incompetant, so went online, downloaded a bunch of specs with measurements and chose one that I KNEW would work properly. I informed them which one and they wanted to "assess" me again... I explained that them assessing me was the reason that I already had the two that didnt work. So they gave up and ordered the one that I assessed for myself... Saving yet more wasted joint car trips, teams of experts and panel meetings and getting it wrong all over again.

This one lifts high enough, is capable of my weight safely and more, is just low enough by 5mm to just go under the metal bars under my bed and it reaches far enough to properly dump me in the chair. It wasnt very difficult, took 10 mins to examine the pdf spec sheets. They are just incapable as they are unable to "see" what is required. They dont look and predict the problems so do not know what they should measure. Daft women OTs that have been on a day course or something. They actually need some kind of basic engineer. They are unable to stand back and look at the job to see what basic parameters are required. Any plumber, builder, mechanic would be able to see this stuff and predict the issues easily. They cant. WCS are just the same only maybe worse.

You can click a few times and zoom in its big enough!

[martin007]

I have two ceiling hoists, one in bathroom for toilet and bath, the other in bedroom (which I hardly use since it causes hip pain lifting up from a flat position), so my family and PA's prefer to manually transfer me from/to bed since it's quicker and easier. I do have an electric bed so I can make it level with my chair seat.

Steve

Are the two hoists the same?
Can you post a picture?

[Burgerman]

You mean 3! No they all look basically the same, but different dimensions.

[martin007]

I was talking to steves1977uk.

[Burgerman]

I think he means ceiling mounted rails with a movable hoist. But a picture tells a 1000 words.