Stay put in the home you love
such as arthritis or breathing problems. Or alternatively, they use the stairlift in the morning or evening, when they are feeling stiff or tired. It takes away the pressure to move, while future-proofing the home so that they can hang onto their precious independence.
With the crisis in care, not to mention the cost of residential places, it becomes ever more important that people stay in the place they love, if they can.
Following a survey, a stairlift can usually be fitted in just a few hours to your stairs, whether they are straight or curved. It is a good idea to talk to others who have one, as their experience could prove useful.
What do they like about their stairlift? What would they change?
Ensure that you have more than one stairlift quote so that you can do a likefor-like comparison on the complete package, including product features and aftercare services.
Choose the right stairlift in your own time. It can also help to find a manufacturer that has a British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) accreditation, with OFT Code of Conduct approval, to assure you of their integrity. Look at the BHTA website for an impartial guide.
Better quality of life
FAR from being an indulgence, a specialist chair can have a life-changing effect on your health and wellbeing, easing back pain, reducing swelling in joints, helping you to rise more comfortably — while, chances are, making a significant difference to your quality of life. And you definitely don’t have to be ‘frail’ to enjoy the comfort and relaxation that a good chair brings.
It is important to choose a comfort chair that fits you — one that allows your body and thighs to be in an ‘L’ position, as well as enabling you to place your bare feet flat on the floor. This takes
pressure off your back and knees, allowing muscles to relax.
Remember that the seat needs to be firm and supportive, yet padded and comfortable to sit on.
And you should have room to change position easily. This will help you avoid numbness, or if you are slightly older, pressure sores.
The back rest should be high enough to support your back, head and shoulders, and be contoured to offer your lumbar region adequate support.
Padded wings and a headrest can be useful additions, especially if you like the occasional nap!
It is also important that it is the right height, to avoid strain when getting up. If you do find it hard to rise, a riser recliner chair might be a sensible option, as these use electronic operation to lift the seat and bring the sitter to a standing position.
These can be really quite aspirational, designed to suit your decor.
The most important consideration is to be measured, or where possible, try before you buy. You are the best judge of what feels comfortable and right.
A furry-tail ending?
A REHOMING centre in Harefield, West London, has launched an appeal to find homes for five adorable — and very well read — puppies.
The Bichon Frise crossbreed pups are now being weaned, so staff have decided to read to them while they are being fed, so that they don’t miss their mother so much.
Staff have gone to great ‘Wuffering Heights’ to entertain the bookish Bichons, who have been named after famous authors, the works of whom they are currently enjoying — Dickens, Eliot, Bronte, Orwell and Virginia ‘Woof’.
Books such as ‘Our Muttual Friend’, ‘Spaniel Deronda’, Animal Farm and Great Expectations feature highly on their reading lists. They are now eight weeks old so are looking to find loving new homes of their own.
The puppies’ mum, a Bichon-cross named Sarah, is also hoping to be ‘Gone With The Weaned’ and find a loving new family to take her in.