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daughterlu Asked December 2016

How sensible is it to get rid of Mother's hi-tech hospital bed that costs $150 more per month than a regular hospital bed at no additional cost?

It costs us $150 per month for a hospital bed that raises and lowers the whole bed to the floor additional for our Mother. Does anyone else pay a similar charge? There was no extra cost for a regular hospital bed. This was needed when Mother was a fall risk as she could not get out of bed at night when she was by herself. She has improved quite a bit. She is 99 years old. Should we chance going back to a regular hospital bed? She can manage in a walker or wheel chair pretty much by herself. f she needs help there is a button she can push for a Nurses Aid.

daughterlu Dec 2016
Thank you for your answers. It costs a lot to have Mother in Personnel Care with all the extras she has. Does Insurance ever pay for the upgrade of the hospital bed? However, what is best for her will rule. We wish the Head Nurse was available to discuss a system of having the Nurses Aids make sure the walker was by her bed after each use. The NA's are supposed to check on her every two hours. The facility is haughty. The much prefer a family that just drops off the parent and visits an hour or two. They fluff off or just ignore any inquiries we make regarding Mother's care.

cwillie Dec 2016
The high/low beds are wonderful for those who are at risk of falling because they minimize the drop from bed to floor and also make it almost impossible to get up on your own unless you are very spry. If you are never lowering the bed any more then I see no reason to keep paying for a feature you don't need. The only downside I can see is... How difficult will it be to bring back the bed if you need it again in the future?

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jeannegibbs Dec 2016
How good is she about pushing the help button? My mother never remembered to do it. A bed that raises and lowers can be helpful to the people doing the caring. Does your Mom need changing, help dressing, etc? Does the regular bed raise, but just not lower to the floor?

Consider what you would lose if you changed beds, and if it isn't very much, why spend extra for it? But be sure to consider all aspects.

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