This is a thread that began with a question requesting information for something that would help or enable a person with parkinson's to get out of a chair easier.
The arco rail is something like it bedbathtub. It's designed to easily fit any standard homestyle or hospital bed with an angle iron bed frame. It is a patented hand rail that comes out from under the mattress and rotates 360 degrees and can be locked into one of four secured positions. It comes from a company called LCM distribution ltd. It has a American and a Canadian flag in their ad. It costs $199.95 can. You should be able to see a picture of it on site called ArcoRail this a personal care site. I think it's under grab bars.
I took my husband to Day Care at a extended care lodge yesterday. He will go once a week it will cost $4.50 a day and give me a break. He wouldn't let me go home until 1:30pm and all he did all day is eat lunch and sit in the lift chair they had and play with the remote control. He said next week he will go alone. He has macular degeneration eye disease so he doesn't see to well and can't read or watch TV. The whole chair raises to just about a full standing position. It also had heat and vibration controls. It would cost $1300. I know you can cheaper ones but I don't like the fabric on them. It would make it a lot easier for him to get up if he gets one at home.
The Veterans affairs people are deciding if they will pay for it and the arco rail. I should know soon. Thanks again to everybody that replied. This site has helped me so much over the year I've been coming here.
Corrected info: UpliftTM Seat Assist is a portable lifting cushion that can be placed in any chair. It then provides the extra lift needed to help get out of a chair. It is self-powered and portable, weighing about eight pounds, and is 17 inches wide. Made by Daylight Technologies, Inc., the Uplift Seat Assist can make most any chair a lift chair. For more information, please contact them at 1-800-387-0896.
Also, I have a catalog called Functional Solutions from Independent
Living Products. I have ordered from them via phone and Net and been
quite satisfied. This catalog shows The Arcorail System and The ransfer
Handle, both rail type systems that help a person pull up in bed and ull
up out of bed. Contact info for this catalog is:
(800) 377-8033
www.ilp-online.com
We also have a triangle suspended above the bed. This has been an indispensible help for Neal to get to a sitting position and a help in turning in bed. Medicare paid for this. These are available in many of the larger drug stores that have a medical equipment department and take care of the paper work. All that is needed is a doctor's prescription for the device. There are two versions of the bed triangle. For a hospital bed it clamps on the headboard. Ours is the freestanding version that is used with a regular bed. It is secured by long extensions that fit under the bed.
As mentioned in an earlier post, we also ordered from the Functional Solutions catalog
from Independent Living Products. Ours came within two days from
a San Francisco distributor of medical supplies, North Coast Medical
although the phone and internet addresses are in Phoenix.
(800) 377-8033
www.ilp-online.com
Also if you search on a search engine using "lift chair" as your object, you will find other manufacturers and LOTS of medical supply houses. Besides Wal-Mart, JC Penney carries them in their special catalogue. Acording to the information that we received, Medicare only pays a portion and that is only for the lift mechanism and the amount varies from state to state.
In general terms, Medicare pays 80% on a maximum that varies from approximately $315 to $325.
Also available is the lift mechanism only that apparently would be = attached to a regular chair or recliner. I'm not sure of just how this is done or how good a solution this would be because we did not research this option.Regards, C. Y. cythomas@vvm.com
UpliftTM Seat Assist is a portable lifting cushion that can be placed in any chair. It then provides the extra lift needed to help get out of a chair. It is self-powered and portable, weighing about eight pounds, and is 17 inches wide. Made by Daylight Technologies, Inc., the Uplift Seat Assist can make most any chair a lift chair. For more information, please contact Medassure at (602) 893-1662.
One was from a local (Columbus, Ohio) furniture store. As I recall it was a bit over $600. They had to order it, as the color we needed wasn't in stock and it took forever! Well about 8 weeks. (they did throw in free delivery for our trouble.) It works well and is almost silent in operation.
The second one we found in the "Medical Equipment" section of the Classified Ads in the Columbus Dispatch. It was special ordered by a young man for his (now deceased) father and is wider and longer than most models. I think we paid him $350. after we tried it out at his apt. It is located in our Family Room and is the one used most often. We've had to replace the up/down switch twice since buying it as she runs it up and down quite a bit. Our son-in-law did it in about an hour with a replacement part from radio Shack. Overall they work well, and help her get to almost a standing position from which she can reach her adjacent walker or I can fairly easily steer her to her electric cart. By comparison, when she sits in other chairs, even ones with sturdy arm rests, it is a struggle to get her vertical. If you need more info. please e-mail me directly.