Mobility and ambulation

Helping your loved one with their mobility is one of the more dangerous activities you can undertake as a family caregiver. All it takes is one slip for you to hurt your back. If that happens, there are now two people who need help with ambulation instead of one. It’s important for both of you that you take care of yourself.
Presidio Home Care goes to great lengths to train, retrain, and review proper ambulation and transfer procedures with their caregivers. Our goal is to prevent injury to your loved one and keep our caregivers healthy and able to assist. Believe it or not, there is a proper way to do all of the following:

•    Transferring someone from a chair to a standing position
•    Helping someone sit up
•    Helping someone stand from a prone position
•    Transferring someone from a bed to a chair
•    Transferring someone from a shower chair
•    Transferring in and out of a car
•    Position changing for bed-bound patients
•    Spotting an individual while walking

Presidio Home Care provides caregivers who have been trained on all these procedures. Additionally, caregivers must demonstrate these ambulation and mobility skills when they complete their clinical hours which is part of their professional training. Presidio Home Care reviews these procedures with caregivers during their orientation and training. It is important to have a qualified, trained caregiver working with your loved one- especially if you are paying for it. There are some companies in the caregiving industry that will not only provide an untrained caregiver for you or loved one, they will also not provide worker’s compensation insurance. That means that if the caregiver is hurt in your home while lifting, transferring, or otherwise assisting your loved one, the liability will fall onto you. Be careful when hiring a caregiver or caregiving agency.