A Question

[Caring for 2]

For 1 week a month to give my MIL respite, we bring my FIL, a PWD, to live with us and have done so for more than 2 years. He loves to visit, we love having him and my MIL loves the break. Since the vascular dementia was diagnosed, apart from the memory loss there has been little if any, change in his behaviour apart from my wife having to lay out the clothes he will wear on any particular day. He washes, shaves and showers completely without help. He walks slowly but so far does not stumble and hasn’t had any falls. And now, our problem. We have had our shower room updated complete with walk-in shower and my FIL uses that shower without problem. However, if falling or stumbling starts, and given that one wall of the shower is all glass, how should we tackle this situation? Is it really a problem? Fitter has said that the fitting of a seat would require the complete dismantling of the shower cubicle and removal of the new tiling to fit dwangs ( wooden supports) for the seat. I would be grateful for members comments.

 

[nitram]

The glass should be toughened to withstand a fall.
Does the door slide open?
If not can it be opened if somebody falls against it.
You can get free standing shower seats.

 

[canary]

My OH is at risk of falling in the shower (he did once fall through the shower screen - it shattered into small pieces which didnot cut him, but it made life difficult and expensive to replace.

He now has a shower chair over the bath, but you can also get shower chairs that can be placed on the floor of the shower and then removed - this is what his respite care home uses.
They look like this (other sources probably available)

Economy Shower Chair

This fixed height Economy Shower Chair is incredibly durable, stable and robust and also represents exceptional value for money.

www.mobilitysmart.co.uk

 

[Caring for 2]

The glass should be toughened to withstand a fall.
Does the door slide open?
If not can it be opened if somebody falls against it.

Thank you for the quick reply, but I should have said that there is no door nitram, but will look into free-standing seats

 

[Caring for 2]

My OH is at risk of falling in the shower (he did once fall through the shower screen - it shattered into small pieces which didnot cut him, but it made life difficult and expensive to replace.

He now has a shower chair over the bath, but you can also get shower chairs that can be placed on the floor of the shower and then removed - this is what his respite care home uses.

Thank you too for your reply canary! I also have a sister who is a PWD and when I visit her care home in a couple of weeks I’ll have a chat with staff about the chairs.

 

[Chizz]

Hi @Caring for 2
We had a free standing chair, and non-slip mat. Then I fitted grab handles in all the places where needed - both inside ad outside shower, by trying this out ourselves
We also made sure I was about to supervise, just in case.