My 95-year-old father is in an MC facility under hospice care. He now uses a wheelchair. Lately when I visit him, he looks like he may slide out of the chair at any minute. He will not/cannot move his hips to the back of the seat despite repeated directions & hands-on help. His back is stiff & appears as though he cannot bend forward at the waist. He is dead weight, despite having lost many pounds. Even if we are lucky enough to get him positioned properly, he slides back down within a few minutes. The seat cushion is no help.
He has gangrene in his left foot (which is being treated by hospice) & he will NOT bend his knees to place his feet on the foot rests at the bottom of the chair despite numerous verbal cues in his ear & physical assistance. If you manage to get his feet on the foot rests, he moves them off almost instantly. Consequently, his feet drag on the floor when you push the wheelchair. He does lift his feet at intervals while you are pushing him. He is on routine pain medication & does not seem to be in pain.
He has several falls already & will have another if I can't get this "fixed". It seems that he would do better if the chair legs could be tilted back towards his body so as to keep them less likely to drag on the floor, but I could be totally off base. I have looked at several different types of wheelchairs that tilt back, but the foot placement is the same as a regular wheelchair & cannot be adjusted.
It occurs to me that an OT/PT evaluation may help, but persons with that type of expertise are generally not available where we live. I would appreciate any thoughts on how to position him properly in the wheelchair. I don't want to give up the wheelchair altogether because I like to take him outside when the weather is nice since the residents never get out of the MC area. I'm in the process of trying to find out how he does in a regular chair, but can't get any answers at this time on Sunday afternoon.
Now all I have to deal with is how terrible dad looks. He has that thin skin and is/was on "blood thinners" so he looks bruised and battered.
There's just not much you can to to help that. It's really a catch-up kind of deal. They fall, you evaluate and treat. I was going to his condo 2xs a day and debriding the wounds and putting a whole tube of Neosporin on each 'wound' and rewrapping them. He'd always manage to have a fresh wound when I'd come at night to put him to bed.
It was a sad end to an active, busy life. He literally looked like I'd beat the living daylights out of him--and it was simply the leukemia, doing what it does.
Old hips don't bend good.
That's what an elder told me & hey, mine are bad enough already!
He may not SAY he has pain - but is there a grimace when the knees get bent to place the feet on the footplates?
Another vote here for a chair that tilts. Either the *tilt in space* wheelchair (bigger & heavier) or go full comfort style in the well padded recliner Princess type (even bigger & heavier). They can be wheeled out to the patio but a regular wheelchair would be needed for car trips.
Call Hospice to arrange.
Talk to hospice. Your father can't take verbal directions anymore with dementia at play at 95. My mother had aphasia too where she couldn't understand language anymore, so it was useless to try to explain things to her. Sad and hateful disease, dementia is.
Good luck
Care facilities don't really use these anymore because they can be considered a restraint.
The MC might allow if hospice tells them your father needs these things.