My Mother is 86 years, and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's 21/2 years ago. Mother spends 21 or 22 hours every day in bed. Since I'm a great believer in PREVENSION IS BETTER THAN CURE, why wait for bedsores to begin, should I get an air mattress now.
definitely our mom spends 24/7 time in bed. Her air mattress just recently went bad and within 10 days was already developing bed sores, so I quickly purchased a new one, it is a fantastic prevention helper, with it, she never gets sores!!
Actually, there are mattresses are designed to only be used temporarily. That's because the vinyl stretches before springing a leak. What would be better is to get a memory foam mattress topper or even go with a Tempur-pedic bed. If you get the Tempur-pedic, definitely go with the topper as well unless you have a mattress custom-made. If you can't afford a Tempur-pedic, definitely go to your local Walmart and look for a nice thick memory foam mattress topper, the thicker the better. No matter how much or how little time someone spends in bed, having a comfortable mattress is key to preventing bed sores, even if that person has skeletal issues and they need something forgiving. The best time to shop around is now. Instead of pouring money into a constant flow of air mattresses that will add up, just go out for something that will actually last because buying their mattresses all the time will get costly very quickly since they really don't last long. Again, air mattresses are only meant to be temporary. If you try to use them as a prolonged every day item, they will let you down since they're just not made for permanent every day use. I found this out years ago when I used to use air mattresses all the time. Air mattresses just don't hold up forever.
Talk to a medical equipment store you willneed a doctors letter they can order your bed for little or nothing as its nessasary on mMedicare or caaid or both or even a visiting nurse can order it for you in between any thing that works will help till its in and they can help you with that toov
as a retired LPN who worked in NH for 18 years do it ASAP before the bed sores start. Once they do it takes a long time to heal. In Pa you need a doctor's order to get one so insurance will pay but also the patient has to have the bed sore already. STUPID. They have alternate air mattress that I know is the best but there may be some new ones out there so check it out. Don"t wait like you said PREVENTION. So go for it. God Bless and take care of both of you.
I think what you'd find more helpful is an alternating pressure pad that electrically rotates and shifts different sections of the pad.
Ours was paid for by Medicare with a prescription from the supervising home care physician.
Do some checking on an air mattress vs an alternating pressure pad before you buy. You can Google "alternating pressure air mattress" and check out the hits.
My mother first wanted the memory foam from Walmart. Then she wanted it off because it made the bed too high for her to climb into. PREVENTION is the key and you have to move her every several hours or so just like they do in hospitals. GOOD JOB THUS FAR!!!!
My daughter used to admit patients to her facility. She would look for bed sores (automatic air mattress) and pressure points like the backs of heals. If redness is there, bedsores, blisters are next. Maybe our LPN can give more info. I agree, air mattress now.
Private 1, I accidentally made my own temperpedic mattress. My husband wanted a foam rubber mattress so we had on made at The Original Mattress Factory. We chose a foam that was much too firm for our comfort so we bought a 3" memory foam topper. Viola, a savings of hundreds of dollars and getting the same effect. We've slept on it for over 20 years and it's still great!
Had no idea that an air mattress makes that much of a difference.
Ours was paid for by Medicare with a prescription from the supervising home care physician.
Do some checking on an air mattress vs an alternating pressure pad before you buy. You can Google "alternating pressure air mattress" and check out the hits.
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