For about the past year I have been helping my friend Richard. He is 68 and has post polio syndrome. He has a medicare Kaiser plan. He can't walk without help, and if he falls I can't get him up. This has been a bad week, twice he has ended up on the floor. He doesn't truly fall, he tries to stand, his legs are not strong enough so he slides from the edge of his power lift chair to the floor. Tonight I had to get a neighbor come pick him up and put him in bed. His legs are extra weak right now, he has a cough with chest congestion. He got a flu shot and has not been around anybody sick. I need a way to be able to help him up, I think it is called a patient lift. How do I get his doctor to give him one?
The patient lifts will not work to get someone up off the floor. If Richard tends to slide out of his chair, it will be very difficult to place the lift sling under him, hook it up on the lift and operate the lift to lift him back into his chair. It would require Herculean strength and effort. Plus, my husband has anxiety attacks each time I tried to use it.