Bathroom Safety Archives

One in four seniors fall each year, and out of every five falls, one results in serious injuries, such as broken bones or brain injuries. The statistics are scary, but falls can be prevented with the right equipment installed throughout the home.

The CDC recommends installing grab bars in every bathroom of a home with loved ones choosing to age in place. They are often placed next to the toilet, sink, and inside and outside the tub or shower. Because bathroom floors can become slippery, by holding on to the bar, it can create a safer space. However, grab bars are not only installed in bathrooms but other places throughout the home.

What is a Grab Bar?

It’s graspable bar installed on the wall that helps maintain balance and lessen fatigue while standing. They help prevent injury for aging loved ones, people with a temporary or permanent injury, and others.

Where to Install Grab Bars?

As we mentioned, grab bars are essential for bathrooms, but it is also helpful to have them installed throughout your home. These days you do not have to worry about giving up style. You can find sleek, stylish designs that blend in with your home. Wherever you are wanting a grab bar, contact an accessibility expert to safely do the job.

How to Choose the Right Grab Bars?

When you are choosing grab bars for your loved one’s home, there are various design options, including:

Straight are usually installed horizontally but can also be vertically or diagonally.
Folding can be folded away to provide extra space when not in use.
Ceiling to floor is tension mounted and makes it easier to stand from your toilet, bed, or couch.

It is not always easy deciding which grab bars will best accommodate you or your loved one. That’s why at Next Day Access, we offer free in-home consultations for our customers. With our evaluations, we can help you understand which solution will benefit you the most. We also offer installations from our accessibility technicians. Contact us to learn more about our free in-home safety consultations.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/falls/adultfalls.html

If you or your loved one has experienced a recent injured or developed mobility issues, there are a variety of accessories or daily living aids to assist you or your caregiver. These solutions can help with standing, walking, and prevent further injury. At Next Day Access, we are proud to offer a wide range of accessibility and mobility products. In fact, some of these products you may not even know exist. Here are a few of our daily living aids that can make aging in place safer and more comfortable.

Handy Handle

The Handy Handle is a small rectangular device used to assist caregivers in helping lift patients or loved ones into a standing position. It is a portable device with a non-slip grip that supports 350 pounds. The design is simple. The patient holds one side while the caregiver is gripping on the other side, lifting. The Handy Handle helps give extra leverage, preventing strain on the caregiver’s back.

Assist-A-Tray

The Assist-A-Tray is a couch cane with an attached tray. The cane aids users who have difficulty sitting or standing; while, the multi-use tray table has a swivel feature and rotates 360 degrees. You can use the tray to set meals or as a laptop desk. The daily living aid is compatible and easily adjustable to fit most four-legged chairs, sofas, lift chairs, and couches.

EZ Fold-N-Go Rollator

The rollator is a walking aid with a convenient seat for quick breaks while walking or traveling. With locked brakes on the wheels, it can support up to 250 pounds safely and comfortably. One of the highlights of this product is it is compact and portable, making it perfect for traveling, going to the store, or navigating around your home. And with its storage basket and an organizer pouch, it makes carrying your personal belongings easy.

PT BedCane

Often, getting in and out of bed can become difficult. That’s why with the PT BedCane, you can safely transfer yourself from the bed. The design of the bedcane is a handle that allows the user to apply a two-handed grip, providing balance and support up to 300 pounds. The product also includes an organizer saddle bag for accessible storage. You can store your phone, reading glasses, or TV remote at your bedside.

Metro Car Handle Plus

The Metro Car Handle Plus is a convenient device that makes it easy to get in and out of the car. Its shape allows the handle to slide into the door latch striker for extra support when sitting or standing. The non-slip ergonomic grip can provide stability and balance for up to 500 pounds. And for extra visibility at night, you can twist the end cap of the handle for a flashlight.

At Next Day Access, our main priority is to help those with limited mobility or an injury live more independently while remaining safe and comfortable. These daily living aids can make a perfect gift for your loved ones. Along with daily living aids, we also offer a variety of accessibility and mobility solutions. Contact for a free in-home safety evaluation to better understand how you can create a more comfortable and safe home.

Source: https://stander.com/

Remodeling your bathroom when a loved one becomes dependent on a wheelchair for mobility isn’t always an option. This is why we offer Fawssit portable showers for our customers. After a long day, a shower is a perfect way to relax and unwind. However, when you suffer from a disability or injury, showering can become difficult and dangerous. The shower is designed to help people using a wheelchair get in and out of the shower with ease.

How the Fawssit Portable Shower Works

The showers come assembled, so no tools or construction is required. The only two things you need are access to an electrical outlet and a sink. The unit is set up within 15 feet of a sink (if a longer distance is needed, you can contact the manufacturer, and they can make hoses to fit your home up to 30 feet). The sides of the shower fold open and secure with velcro straps. The unit comes with a vinyl drain pan that sits on the bottom. The front opens, so the wheelchair user enters and exits the unit. Attach the shower head to the sink faucet, plug the pump into a 3-prong outlet, and voila, you have a portable shower!

Once done showering, there is no need to wait for the pan to drain. The pan is designed to keep water from leaking when the wheelchair user exits. When the individual is done showering, turn off the pump, dry the water off from the curtain and pan, then fold the unit to be stored away until its next usage.

Variety of Models

There are a variety of Fawsitt Portable Showers. The Standard showers fit 220 lbs. And the Bariatric model can accommodate up to 400 lbs. There are also models for a reclining wheelchair or extra space for a caregiver aiding with bathing. When you are deciding which model will best fit your needs, our accessibility experts at Next Day Access store can help you.

At Next Day Access, our goal is to help people with disabilities live independently while being safe and comfortable. Contact us for a free in-home safety evaluation.

Source: https://www.fawssit.com/

The month of November recognizes the millions of nurses, home care aides, therapists, and social workers who serve their community proudly. These individuals play an essential role in our healthcare system and homes across the nation. To recognize their hard work and show appreciation, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) asked to celebrate November as Home Care and Hospice Month.

“Home care and hospice nurses, therapists, aides, and other providers who choose to use their lives to serve our country’s aged, disabled, and dying. This noble work deserves our recognition and praise, and we celebrate November as Home Care & Hospice Month for that very reason.” – NAHC President William A. Dombi.

Hospice care professionals are an important role to end-of-life care and individuals who are terminally ill. They focus on helping someone with a terminal illness comfortably and increasing their quality of life. Hospice is usually offered in the home or a long-term care facility.

Some of their services include:

Managing patient’s pain and symptoms
Emotional support
Providing medical equipment like wheelchairs
Teaching caregivers on how to provide the best care
Dietary counseling
Grief and loss counseling for patient and loves ones

Along with providing the best care for patients, a huge part of their job is also supporting families. So, they help with education, emotional and spiritual support, financial issues, and assisting with the patient’s hygiene.

“Within the hospice care setting, the looming reality of a patient’s death can be extremely hard for both patients and family members to accept. During this time, many difficult decisions must be made regarding treatments that will benefit the patient in their last weeks or months, often bringing quality of life concerns into play. Nurses step in at this time to guide patients and families confronting those tough decisions and helping them adapt to painful realities,” says the American Nurses Association.

At Next Day Access, we recognize the noble work done by hospice teams. This November, we are proud to honor the individuals in our healthcare system who help make differences in lives. We are thankful for those who continue to work and study hard to help the community.

Source: https://www.nahc.org/

Inevitably there will come a time when you need a home health aide to take care of your aging loved one or even share the responsibility. Do not look at it like you are giving up, but instead, you are doing them a favor.

For some parents approaching the subject of a caregiver, other than yourself, may cause them to be upset. However difficult the conversation can be, it could be the only way to ensure your aging loved one is receiving top notch care every day. To help you decide if your loved one needs a home health aide, here’s a list of warning signs.

A Lack in Personal Hygiene

A change in personal appearance and behavior are common indicators that your loved one needs some help at home. You may not notice changes in personal hygiene, such as wearing dirty clothes. Notice your family member’s appearance and pay attention to their body odor. These are some signs your aging loved one could be letting their hygiene go. It can become too troublesome for them, or it could be memory loss.

Often, as adults age, their skin becomes thinner and thus more brittle, and a shower could physically hurt them. It could be time for sponge baths.

Weight Loss

This could sneak up on you if you are used to seeing your parent/grandparent often. But if you find that your loved one appears thinner than what you consider their “normal” weight, it may be a sign of trouble for the future. Possible causes could be trouble with meal preparation, depression, memory loss or cognitive decline.

It is common for people suffering from a memory impairment, such as Alzheimer’s to forget how to cook their food or even eat.

Housekeeping is No Longer a Priority

If you notice your parent’s home is full of clutter and messy when it is typically in tip-top shape, this could be a sign that something is wrong. They could be too tired or even depressed to perform daily chores. Depression can cause them to neglect to keep the house clean. The bottom line, a messy home can cause a healthy person to become sick. Their mood will lift in a clean home, and they will relax and breathe easier.

If you notice items appearing in unusual places, for example, the container of coffee creamer tucked into the dishwasher rather than the refrigerator, or shoes placed on the table rather than beneath it, this could also be a sign of early-onset dementia, stroke, or even Alzheimer’s.

When to look for help?

If you find you are exhausted and overwhelmed trying to take care of your relative, it may be time to consider a home health care aide. The change could upset your loved one at first, but it is likely they will grow to appreciate the companionship and help around the house. Encourage and support them as you transition to finding a home health aide.

Next Day Access is in the business of improving the quality of life for seniors. We have a large variety of home modifications, accessibility devices, and mobility equipment to help older loved ones get around easier in their homes and while they are out in town. Contact us today for a free in-home consultation.

Today, there are close to 131 million people who use wheelchairs to move around the world. Most rely on the same decades-old technology to get around. Despite all of the improvements wheelchairs make to the quality of people’s lives, little has changed about the wheelchair. At Next Day Access, we are excited about any new gadgets and devices that could enhance our customers’ lives, so we researched disability products for the future. Here are a few of the new inventions we hope to one-day hit markets.

Self-Driving Wheelchairs

In South Korea, a company, Guru IoT, is currently developing a self-driving wheelchair. The wheelchair can navigate through a crowd and avoid hurdles. It also has safety features like emergency braking and more. The newly developed self-driving wheelchair can hopefully solve many problems that people with limited mobility face. Often, the manual wheelchair can be hard to use for children below a certain height or adults with weak muscle power.

Smart Chairs

Say hello to “Luci.” Luci is a wheelchair accessory that can transform power wheelchairs into intelligent chairs. The frame, which attaches to the mobility device has eight sensors. It can perform tasks like reducing speed or stopping to prevent accidents.

With safety being one of the top concerns, the development team at Luci ran a series of crash tests to measure the different types of impact caused to wheelchair users. During their tests they found that 87% of power wheelchair users reported only one trip or fall in the past three years. So, while it has some room for improvement, it does look exciting.

3D Printed Carbon Fiber Wheelchairs

Medical 3D printing has allowed for a reinvention with wheelchairs. Phoenix Instinct, a mobility equipment supplier in Scotland has developed the Phoenix i. The Phoenix i is a lightweight, carbon fiber wheelchair. This new invention makes it easier to have more control in terrains and greater flexibility and stability.

The advancements in technology is exciting and hopeful. At Next Day Access, our goal is to help keep you safe and comfortable while aging-in-place. Contact us for a free in-home safety evaluation.

Travel regulations eased since the onset of the Covid Pandemic. Now, many people are taking advantage of the cheaper flights to Europe. Europe is a beautiful place to vacation with great history. Given the older architecture, not every place in Europe is equipped with accessibility laws in place. Which can present difficulties with navigating a wheelchair or other mobility devices. Successful traveling with a mobility device to Europe requires a lot of research and planning, but it’s worth it. Here are a few tips to consider so you can travel safely abroad.

Accessibility laws

The United Kingdom and Germany’s accessibility laws are similar to America with their requirements for buildings and transportation. Yet, many countries do not have these same laws. Before traveling to Europe, research which countries have requirements that help citizens with a disability.

Book hotels in advance

Many hotels have very few accessible hotel rooms, so booking hotels far in advance is ideal. When finding a hotel, try to stay in the most accessible parts of town. Look for towns that are not surrounded by hills or stairs. A good way to get an idea of the lay of the town is using Google Maps Street View.

Booking transportation online

In Europe, every training system has different boarding and booking procedures for mobility device users. Most times, you can book wheelchair spots online in advance. However, be aware that each line requires prior notification for a wheelchair reserved spot due to the low availability.

Accessible tour companies

You can also find accessible tour companies. It is a great idea to book with a tour company, especially one that knows the ins and outs of traveling with mobility equipment. A company that specializes in accessibility tours will take you to the most convenient, smoothest, and shortest routes. It will alleviate a lot of stress when you know your accessibility needs are better met and understood.

Lastly, enjoy your trip! You’ve done as much planning as you can, and now that’s left is exploring the European history, culture, and beautiful architecture. If you’re in need of a power chair, scooter, or other accessibility and mobility products to help you navigate through Europe, contact your local Next Day Access business.

World Occupational Therapy Day is on Wednesday, October 27^th of this year. This day was initially launched to celebrate and heighten the visibility of occupational therapy. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Belong. Be you.” This year’s theme promotes the power of diversity and inclusion as we work together to build community and resilience.

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational therapy teaches you how to adapt. After an illness or injury, tasks may not be as easy as they used to be, especially if the pain is involved. Your OT will set up a plan to improve the way you accomplish activities. They determine if you need to learn how to do things in a completely new way or if you need assistance with remembering how you once performed the task. If they notice the lesson is painful, they will help you figure out how to achieve your everyday activities with minimum pain.

People with the following struggles find enormous relief when they see an occupational therapist:

Spinal cord injury
Low vision
Alzheimer’s disease
Poor balance
Cancer
Diabetes
Multiple sclerosis
Cerebral palsy
Mental health or behavioral issues
Joint replacement
New Injuries that change the way the patient will function through life

Occupational Therapists Aid Seniors Choosing to Age in Place

While Occupational Therapists excel at helping those with an injury, disability or illness, they can also help if you have an older loved one choosing to age in place. They can teach them how to adjust to daily life, whether it be bathing, dressing, or learning how to adapt to home modifications.

At Next Day Access, we are proud to aid occupational therapists when they need products for their patient’s homes. We have a wide variety of mobility equipment, home modifications, and accessibility products to help ensure that anyone living with a disability or aging in place is secure and comfortable at home. You can even contact us for a free in-home consultation.

Next Day Access is proud to announce the grand opening of a new franchise location in Toledo, Ohio. Jeff Rowe is the President/Owner of Next Day Access Northwest, Ohio. Next Day Access provides accessibility and mobility solutions to customers in local communities. The new location will focus on helping customers live independently and age-in-place by offering and installing wheelchair ramps, stairlifts, grab bars, bathroom safety, scooters, and more.

Prior to becoming owner of Next Day Access Northwest, Rowe brings years of experience in sales in a variety of industries, from medical devices and pharmaceuticals to hospitality and material handling equipment.

“I wanted to work more with end-users that sold products that would be life-changing for people,” says Rowe. When asked why he chose the Next Day Access brand, he said, “Next Day Access checked all the boxes I was looking for since it is a growing industry selling life-changing products. Once meeting the Home Office team, I knew they were good people, and our visions aligned perfectly.”

Anyone with mobility-related disabilities who may need a temporary or permanent solution or wishes to age in the comfort of their own home can now turn to a locally owned and operated business in Toledo, Ohio. The new Next Day Access location is backed by a national brand they can trust to meet all their needs in an expert and professional manner. In addition to the Northwest, Ohio area, Next Day Access has locations in the United States and Canada.

Have you reached the point in life where it is time to take care of the parents or grandparents that once took care of you? As your loved ones grow older, they often need help with small tasks like picking up groceries, making health-related decisions, or bathing. Whatever their needs may be, it is essential to be supportive and not overbearing. Here are a few steps to help guide you as you navigate supporting an aging loved one.

Step 1: Assess Their Needs

Assessing your loved one’s needs is most important when learning to be supportive rather than making them feel like they have not lost their independence. Experts recommend considering the following issues seniors often face to help you better assess their needs:

Family support
Home safety
Medical needs
Cognitive health
Mobility
Personal hygiene
Meal preparation
Social interaction

How well do they handle each area listed above? Try to monitor their ability to address each of these areas on their own. Regarding family support, is there another family that can help? If so, it is an innovative idea for you to keep a family notebook. In this notebook, you can share with family when you notice they might lack the ability to care for themselves or are unsafe. You can work together to make the necessary changes.

Step 2: Be Financially Prepared

As parents or loved ones grow older, they may need help managing finances. While having conversations about money can be awkward, and some may want to avoid it, discussing it now can help prepare for the future. You can start the conversation by asking about essential documents, gathering information about accounts and key contacts, and helping with deciding long-term plans. If you talk to your loved ones now, it will give them more control over financial decisions, so you aren’t overwhelmed with what they would want in an emergency.

Step 3: Install Home Modifications

To avoid your loved one from sustaining an injury in their home, having accessibility experts evaluate their home for any safety concerns is essential. Older adults fall easier, and a fall can cause injuries or even death. With home modifications, such as grab bars or stairlifts, your loved one can live comfortably and safely at home.

It is a noble endeavor to take on someone else’s needs. It can sometimes feel daunting, yet if you have a plan, you will be more capable of meeting your loved one’s needs. Next Day Access is here to help. Next Day Access can assist you with determining the home modifications you will need to ensure your loved one stays as safe as possible. Contact us for a free in-home consultation.