any experience with the Hipguard belt ?

[JSum]

Sorry, not sure if I'm posting in the right place, but my father has dementia and I'm very worried he's going to break his hip as he's fallen a few times. He's mobile but some days just seems to forget where and how he's walking. I've tried to remove risk of falls but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the Hipguard belt please? I found it on the Yorkshire Care Equipment website (sorry it won't let me paste a link in here but if you Google "hipguard Yorkshire Care" you will be able to find it. It seems to be fairly new out so I was wondering if anyone had trialled or seen it or anything?

Any tips or support or feedback would be appreciated!

 

[Sarasa]

Hi @JSum, and welcome to Dementia Talking Point. Sorry I don't have any experience with this belt, details of which are here

Hip'Guard Falls Protection Belt

A wearable falls protection belt, the Hip'Guard belt detects falls & inflates an airbag to protect against falls injuries & hip fractures in 0.8 seconds.

www.yorkshirecareequipment.com

I think the trouble with any piece of equipment is persuading someone to use it. My mother is in a care home and has had a few falls. I really can't imagine she'd comply with wearing something like that, . She has a walker, but can rarely can be persuaded to use it. Do you think your father would consider one of those? My mother might not be keen, but my mother in law has become very good at using hers. Mind you she started using it when her dementia was much less advanced than it is now, and she's always had mobility problems so was more amenable to trying something to help her. As far as my mother is concerned such aids are for old people (she's 93).
I'm sure other people will be along in a minute with their experiences of useful equipment to help prevent falls.

 

[nitram]

No experience.
However here's a link

Hip'Guard Falls Protection Belt

A wearable falls protection belt, the Hip'Guard belt detects falls & inflates an airbag to protect against falls injuries & hip fractures in 0.8 seconds.

www.yorkshirecareequipment.com

There's a large choice of far cheaper passive protectors.

hip protector - Google Search

Have you asked the Local Authority Occupational Therapist for an opinion?

 

[Shedrech]

I agree, heavily expensive ... not sure I'd be willing to pay out so much to try some tech that may have no real benefit
and a good idea to have an OT assessment

 

[nitram]

Replacement gas cartridges also aren't cheap

Hip'Guard Belt Replacement Gas Cartridge

Replacement CO2 gas cartridge for the Hip'Guard Hip Fracture Protection Belt. These single-use cartridges are specially designed for safe use with Hip'Guard airbags. After airbag use, quickly and easily change the cartridge to reuse your Hip'Guard.

www.yorkshirecareequipment.com

they look like a Sparklets soda syphon one with a valve/piercing attachment.

I wonder if it is clever enough to distinguish between somebody falling and being accidently dropped, maybe the pressure of tightening it round the waist.
If not it could get expensive.

 

[JSum]

Thanks all for your comments. From what I've read the normal hip protectors are only 10% effective, this is more like 90% effective apparently. And it doesn't go off unless the buckle is closed. Whether my father will accept it or not is another matter. Anyway apparently they do free trials so I might go with that and see what it's like...

Am willing to give it a shot as don't want my father to end up in hospital or a care home - I'm not sure he'd ever recover properly from a hip fracture as he'd never be able to do physio! Also this would be a cheaper option than a care home so worth a shot I think!! Time will tell...

thanks all for your support and welcomes

 

[Sarasa]

Hmm @JSum, there's a lot more to keeping people safe at home than making sure they don't come to harm if they fall over. If your dad is at home alone and fell, that belt (if he wore it) might prevent a hip fracture, but could he call for help?
At others have said getting an overview of his needs from an Occupational Therapist seems like the way to go, rather than just focusing on one problem.

 

[LouLou22]

Hello @JSum, I am wondering if you tried the belt in the end? TIA

 

[Izzy]

Hello @JSum, I am wondering if you tried the belt in the end? TIA

Just a note to say that the member who started this thread hasn’t visited the forum for around a year so you may not get a reply.