My mum has an air wave or 'ripple' mattress to help ensure that she doesn't develop pressure sores. ( She is bed bound for three quarters of the 24 hour day)
She also has a bed which can be adjusted so that the back/head rest rises to help her sit up or a variety of other permutations. eg her legs can be raised with or without the back rising too, amongst other tricks.
The mattress is made of what looks like a thick green plasticky or rubber material and it must be a bit like lying on a child's lilo or inflatable water raft. The pressure for the air travelling through the mattress is set to match my mum's weight and if there is any interruption to the current or other fault, a beep goes off. I found out about these mattresses when my mum was in hospital last year and the one she had in hospital was a different texture and quite a good quality one, I think. On coming out of hospital she was 'prescribed' this same mattress by the District Nursing team and all was well. However, when she had to move to a nursing home, the NHS said they would not transfer the mattress too, so we had to ask the Nursing Home to supply one and the result is this very heavy duty mattress which would probably survive a tsunami.
The thing is, my mum's room gets quite warm these sunny days and I am almost dreading the onset of another hot summer. She complains regularly of having an itchy back and insists that anyone nearby come and scratch her back vigorously for her and calls out 'Harder! HARDER!' until my heart is in my mouth at the thought that I might break her skin. I've mentioned the itchiness to the GP and to the care staff and they always say the same thing. ' It's probably the mattress making her hot and sweaty at her back'.
I'm afraid that when the summer heat comes around my mum is going to be even more uncomfortable. Can anyone suggest a solution to this? Any recommendations about a pressure mattress, ( if necessary by PM)? We've tried covering the mattress with two sheets instead of one but this doesn't seem to make much difference. And I recall that you aren't supposed to cover the mattresses too thickly anyway, eg with Kylies,( how that girl managed to lend her name to an incontinence sheet I'll never work out) because it stops the ripple action taking effect across the skin.
Can anyone recommend a pressure mattress that is capable of being used on a hospital-type bed which isn't going to increase my mum's sweatiness and itchiness?
Thanks for reading this. It's not life or death but it's bugging me. Deborah
She also has a bed which can be adjusted so that the back/head rest rises to help her sit up or a variety of other permutations. eg her legs can be raised with or without the back rising too, amongst other tricks.
The mattress is made of what looks like a thick green plasticky or rubber material and it must be a bit like lying on a child's lilo or inflatable water raft. The pressure for the air travelling through the mattress is set to match my mum's weight and if there is any interruption to the current or other fault, a beep goes off. I found out about these mattresses when my mum was in hospital last year and the one she had in hospital was a different texture and quite a good quality one, I think. On coming out of hospital she was 'prescribed' this same mattress by the District Nursing team and all was well. However, when she had to move to a nursing home, the NHS said they would not transfer the mattress too, so we had to ask the Nursing Home to supply one and the result is this very heavy duty mattress which would probably survive a tsunami.
The thing is, my mum's room gets quite warm these sunny days and I am almost dreading the onset of another hot summer. She complains regularly of having an itchy back and insists that anyone nearby come and scratch her back vigorously for her and calls out 'Harder! HARDER!' until my heart is in my mouth at the thought that I might break her skin. I've mentioned the itchiness to the GP and to the care staff and they always say the same thing. ' It's probably the mattress making her hot and sweaty at her back'.
I'm afraid that when the summer heat comes around my mum is going to be even more uncomfortable. Can anyone suggest a solution to this? Any recommendations about a pressure mattress, ( if necessary by PM)? We've tried covering the mattress with two sheets instead of one but this doesn't seem to make much difference. And I recall that you aren't supposed to cover the mattresses too thickly anyway, eg with Kylies,( how that girl managed to lend her name to an incontinence sheet I'll never work out) because it stops the ripple action taking effect across the skin.
Can anyone recommend a pressure mattress that is capable of being used on a hospital-type bed which isn't going to increase my mum's sweatiness and itchiness?
Thanks for reading this. It's not life or death but it's bugging me. Deborah
