Moving people around when they can’t move themselves isa complicated balance of factors. The sizes of people involved, strength, room, the surfaces you’re moving on or to/from, availability of various tools of the trade, exacerbating health conditions, etc. It seems really simple when you see it done, but if you want to maximize safety for the patients and cargeiver/s, you have to plan things out before you jump in. That takes a little training and a shit ton of experience because training doesn’t actually provide everything you need to know for optimized results.
This patient? Stroke, significant loss of mobility and strength, next to zero use of one side of her body at that point (though that did get better with some hard work). So, since she was a tall lady and couldn’t tolerate a lot of the jostling and back & forth it takes to use a hoyer lift, it was manual work all the way.
I was the only man that could lift most patients solo, and the only one that could lift anyone there solo safely (for a given degree of safely that my back is still paying for tbh).
But because I wasn’t just a slab of beef, I planned every move.
That paid off with her. I could move her in bed, get get showered, get her dressed, everything, and not cause pain. Not that she didn’t hurt on her own, she did. But I didn’t add to that.
It turned out over the years that I’d hear something similar from a lot of patients. But this one was the first to say it in a way that resonated. Like, if you’re asking someone if what you’re doing is causing pain, them saying no just isn’t the same thing. When it’s someone that specifically refuses to do some of her daily needs so she can wait for you? When you ask why, and she says “you never hurt me”, that shit hits hard.
Some shit about the job still eats away at me inside. That one? Makes it worth it.
You never hurt me.
Said by one of my favorite patients.
Moving people around when they can’t move themselves isa complicated balance of factors. The sizes of people involved, strength, room, the surfaces you’re moving on or to/from, availability of various tools of the trade, exacerbating health conditions, etc. It seems really simple when you see it done, but if you want to maximize safety for the patients and cargeiver/s, you have to plan things out before you jump in. That takes a little training and a shit ton of experience because training doesn’t actually provide everything you need to know for optimized results.
This patient? Stroke, significant loss of mobility and strength, next to zero use of one side of her body at that point (though that did get better with some hard work). So, since she was a tall lady and couldn’t tolerate a lot of the jostling and back & forth it takes to use a hoyer lift, it was manual work all the way.
I was the only man that could lift most patients solo, and the only one that could lift anyone there solo safely (for a given degree of safely that my back is still paying for tbh).
But because I wasn’t just a slab of beef, I planned every move.
That paid off with her. I could move her in bed, get get showered, get her dressed, everything, and not cause pain. Not that she didn’t hurt on her own, she did. But I didn’t add to that.
It turned out over the years that I’d hear something similar from a lot of patients. But this one was the first to say it in a way that resonated. Like, if you’re asking someone if what you’re doing is causing pain, them saying no just isn’t the same thing. When it’s someone that specifically refuses to do some of her daily needs so she can wait for you? When you ask why, and she says “you never hurt me”, that shit hits hard.
Some shit about the job still eats away at me inside. That one? Makes it worth it.