OK, I hate social services! Had this horrible man come around to see about adapting the outside, so I can get S in and out of the house. Why do they always answer a simple question, by telling you how short staffed they are and then get touchy when I said, I didn't care, that wasn't my problem, I had enough of my own!!!
Anyway, that's beside the point!!! But I feel better for getting that off my chest!
What has everyone done to adapt their house? We have had the bathroom done. I did have that door widened, when they were doing the fitting. But what about the rest of the house? I haven't heard anyone mentioned this. Also, although we live in a bungalow, which, has an upstairs, but we live on the ground floor. The house does have steps to get in and out, both front and back.
SS are looking into having a steel modular system put in, but that will take over the whole of the back patio, also, there are more steps to get down into the rest of garden, which will need a ramp. Obviously, they are not interested in that bit!
I have got a builder coming around next week, but this is sooooo hard. S would have dealt with this, with out any trouble, come up with much better ideas than the builder. I know I am not bad. Came up with loads of good ideas, when we did up our SA house, but S had to put them across, who listens to a woman????
Love to hear what others have had done. The steps are starting to be a problem, it's not going to be long before a ramp is needed!
Lots of love
Heady
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Heady
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Hi Heady your OT should be able to provide you with a ramp . If you are looking for social services to do stuff for you , it is usually means tested and also takes forever. Our wet room would have taken them nearly nine months to do by the time it had met all the bureaucratic approvals etc etc and then the grant would have ended up at about £400 if we were lucky so we got on with it ourselves . I guess a lot of it depends on the complexity of what you have to do to gain access but do they know who they are up against ? I don't rate their chances !!
Yes of course they know who they are dealing with! A little woman, who has far more important things to do than care, fight or even bother to complain about the extremely poor service they are NOT going to give!!!
We have a sloping drive, two steps to the porch and another through the front door so getting C in that way was impossible. SS came round and said they could put a ramp in out the front which would take up the whole of the front garden because of the slope, shaped like Z but with more levels. I said the local skateboarders would love it. No thanks. So I bought an electric wheelchair to get up the drive. I then had to have the side path altered to enable the chair to turn the corner to the back of the house. SS said to get him into the back, as the step was 10 inches high, they would have to put a 10ft ramp in which would end up in the middle of the pond. I told him I have always wanted a pond with a bridge but he wasn't amused and said the pond would have to go. I said goodbye to him and ended up getting the patio doors taken out, bricks taken down to the damp course and new doors with a wheelchair threshold fitted. The patio had to be widened. I then bought a 4ft aluminium ramp. I now wheel him straight into his bedroom and through to the lounge in the wheelchair.
C can't get to the rest of the garden which slopes up and has steps but does sit on the patio. Nearly every day I pick flowers and put them in vases low down so he can see them. He loved gardening.
Got to go and clean the pond pump now which stopped working this morning. Perhaps I should have had it taken out.....no!
Hi, Heady! We were given a ramp by our VA, which IS big, takes up a lot of room, but is wonderful. It makes our getting in and out of the house so much easier. We use the "landings" as decks, and my guy can roll out with his walker or wheelchair, sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. I've even set up an alfresco supper on the larger. Our is the metal modular kind. I looked at having one built of wood, but the expense and the time just to plan it all and to make the arrangements kept getting in the way of progress, so i was delighted when the VA proposed to provide one. One thing, even though it IS big, it is temporary in a way that the wooden one wouldn't be. Something to consider.
We are getting a stair lift installed soon, also through the VA. I can't wait. The process of coaxing him up and down is driving me mad. He's broken one of the uprights, kicked it, I think, and I am so afraid the whole thing is going to give way as he tugs the banister left and right going up. It's clearly getting loose. Poor dear! He is doing the best he can, and doesn't deserve my temper tantrums, but I am hanging by a thread, and can't seem to take things easy any more.
Eastern, We are waiting for the ramp through the VA, which will be a blessing. I can't even push the small wheel chair with D in it through the front door or anywhere else in the house. Fortunately he can still walk but preparing for the future. He also tries his best but I am also hanging by a thread. So tired so frustrated, don't know what to do
Heady we also live in a bungalow, I have sent you a picture of our front door, we have got patio doors, our son in law is a carpenter and he is going to do us a ramp for patio door. We also have a wet room, here when we brought the house, and door frames were wise enough to get wheel chair through, I suppose were are lucky xxxxx
Although John is downstairs all the time now when we did eventually purchase a stairlift it was worth every penny . I am the one who is us up it now ..
Not because I cannot walk or climb , I do get tired and stressed so anything that makes my life a bit easier is worth it .
We also have steps front and back . SS also wanted us to look at having an outside lift installed . we were too steep for a ramp ..
I had only recently paid to have the front garden done and they wanted to ale most of it for the lift .
If he had been a younger man and I honestly though he would get a reasonable amount of use of it would have gone ahead . my head told me it wasn't a sensible thing to do . I wasn't giving in I was realistic .
Anything you consider would assist to make it safer as well as useful do it now . DO not wait .
I a, still waiting for the result of CHC assessment , Crossroads thecare company recently changed their title to carers trust they rang me this afternoon to say that social services are going to fund four hour sits for me .
I have thought about it since , It's a cop out . I had originally been having four hour aits off them after I signed on with them myself .
I was taken aback when they rang wasn't expecting them at the time so will ring them again and ask they will also give me some more if I need at my own request . I hadn't been having them recently that boy who was sitting was young , very nice bu not really suitable for John ,
I just need someone to sit and keep an eye on him raise his chair up and down as needed He cannot speak very well or for long , oFfer him a drink just keep comfortable he doesn't need entertaining .
We had a step with hand rails done a few years ago but of course now it is no longer useful. I have got removable ramps that we bought so we can use them out the front door or the back door. Janexx
Heady, Remember this summer? A church youth group came and put in a 36 ft ramp or (10 meters)...for free? I did not even ask, they offered. They were not my church either....I am sure there are groups like that who can help you...and believe me, ramp is the way to go....our house is 1 meter or 4 steps up to the door. thats why our ramp is so long. Yours will be msrd. accordingly.
Why is it, men get listened to 'better' ? I asked my neighbor man to go with me to the lumber store because they kept screwing up my window cut....it was costly and the window is warped looking. they never argued once when he came along......nice enough workers, they just don't think I know what I'm talking about....A man comes along, says the same thing VERBATIM, and it's " oh sure we can do that " I guess thats why we only get .70 cents to the dollar for the same job done.
Anyway, Heady think ramp, think community organization !
We tried a few of the competitors before settling on this one. There is another one nearly the same - made in the same town in Germany. The designer left and started his own company with an uprated and modified model which is this. It is very superior to the other.
They will come out and demonstrate it. We got the one which fits to a wheelchair. It is safer than riding in the 'saddle' so to speak, but they promote the other SMAX with the chair already fitted. No good for just sitting in - too uncomfortable.
Hi Liz, they look brilliant! Where abouts are they based? We are in SW England. How much do they cost? Looks as if they are essential kit, what ever we decide to do with our patio!
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Lift/Track system is next piece of equipment.
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