My mother has been living with us for nearly 4 years, but as of a year ago, the care giving became VERY hands on. At this moment, before I can really sit back and tell you more about myself, I need some advice regarding Hoyer lifts.

We are about to purchase a Hoyer lift as my tiny, but heavy (to me) 92 year old, mother is becoming more and more unable to use her legs to help me transfer her. We can purchase a secondhand Hoyer lift for a fraction of the cost of a new one. The Hoyer is a HPL600. Before I jump into this purchase, please, does anyone have some advice for me?

so thrilled to hear you will be hetting a lift.I makes so many things easier

quote:

Originally posted by mae:
Hoyer was a life saver for me with my husband.It allowed me to know there was nothing I could not handle with him with it.He qualified through the VA.I WOULD SEE IF MEDICARE WILL NOT GIVE YOU ONE.I also has the hydraulic.a FEW TIMES THE ELECTRIC WENT OFF AND I WAS NOT AFRAID THAT I WOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT UNABLE TO HELP HIM IF NECESSARY.
It gave me such a sense of control having it

Thanks, Mae, for your encouragement. I FINALLY had a visit from the House Call Doctors. She wrote out a prescription and said go pick one out, as easy as was suggested.

I have a really strange, but neat experience to share.

I have had loads of nurses, CNAs, and Doctors either in my home or in their offices. But in a year since my mother could no longer walk without aid, meaning I had to transfer her, no one told me where to place her feet when transferring her.

Now, to some, this might be simply common sense, but it wasn't to me. As I was telling my friend my dilemma when trying to get Mom up on her feet for the transfer process, she had me sit in a chair and told me to get up. As I was sitting in a recliner, I scooted forward a bit and placed my heels against the recliner, then proceeded to rise. Oh, my goodness! I realized before she could comment, that I was placing Mom's feet in front, away from the chair. Then my friend, who works with autistic children, pointed out that a person’s center of balance works in rising if the feet are place slightly back of where our bodies expect to be. At times Mom helped herself rise, no problem, other times, she just gave up and sat down, and if asked, would say she was afraid, but I never knew of what she was afraid. Since I was made aware of this very simple fact, getting Mom to rise up is much easier. But, since I don't know when she will simply stop cooperating during transfer, I will be getting the Hoyer.

Hoyer was a life saver for me with my husband.It allowed me to know there was nothing I could not handle with him with it.He qualified through the VA.I WOULD SEE IF MEDICARE WILL NOT GIVE YOU ONE.I also has the hydraulic.a FEW TIMES THE ELECTRIC WENT OFF AND I WAS NOT AFRAID THAT I WOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT UNABLE TO HELP HIM IF NECESSARY.
It gave me such a sense of control having it

Medicare paid ALL of the rental for Mom's Hoyer. If, after a long time of rental, it's still in use, you will have the option to either purchase it and Medicare will pay for repairs OR just leave it as a rental and that's that.

The Hoyer we had was a manual one. It is a hydraulic lift, so just by pumping a lever, the Hoyer raises the patient. It is extremely easy to use. If you can pump a mister bottle of Windex, you can pump up a 250 lb. person in a Hoyer.

Some Hoyers have electric motors. Unless one is dealing with an extremely heavy patient, there is no need.

After the patient has been lifted by the Hoyer, the lift can be pushed or pulled to reposition the patient into a chair, tub, etc. They work best on a hard surface floor. A very short-pile carpet might work, but a normal carpet or long pile one will impede its movement.

Hoyers are used in many applications for many situations. If one is used to put someone in a bathtub, for example, you would need a bathing sling which will not be affected by getting wet. For lowering a patient onto a toilet, a toileting sling is needed 'cause it has a hole in it for obvious reasons! We had a general purpose nylon sling, made of similar material to a backpack.

The patient is rolled onto the sling (the people who deliver it can show you how to roll it up to position it correctly under the patient), the loops attached to the lift's eyes and then the patient is lifted by pumping the lift. To lower, one slowly releases a knob which allows the lift to lower the patient - fast or slowly, depending on how you operate the knob. Turn it too quickly and look out below!!!

The social worker or medical supply place can explain to you all the different ways that one can obtain this device. They can show you different models and let you try one out on a hapless guinea pig!

My best advice is to rent it. Hoyers are relatively simple devices - there isn't much to go wrong with them, especially the manual ones!

This is the home site of the company which bought out Ted Hoyer, originator of the Hoyer lift.
http://www.joerns.com/lifting-repositioning

This is the basic Hoyer lift...
http://www.joerns.com/lifting-repositioning/hml400
Works GREAT! I could lift Mom, move her into the bathtub in her room, into the livingroom or onto the porch and park her on a postage stamp!

This is not a big deal - just ask the doc to order one or go to your choice of local hospital/medical supply businesses and ask them to show you what they have. They can arrange to contact your doc for orders, etc. It's really very simple.

PS The HPL 600 is to lift 600 lbs. Unless your mom is a very large woman, you'll never need one so large.

My husband do some research on the web and he learned that medicare will pay 80% for the rental. Not knowing how long my mother will be with us, we question if the part we pay will become more than if we had purchased a used lift. He also said, from his research, that medicare will only pay for a manual lift not an electric lift. Now, please understand, I have NO experience with any type of lift, so perhaps a manual is fine or not?

Thanks Moms_Buddy,

Patt

quote:

The advice I need is what NOT to do in the way of using a lift, or what NOT to buy

The company from which it's rented will send someone out to show you. Does your mom have home health care? Again, the doc can order it so that they can instruct you and keep tabs on your mom's health issues.

This is an extremely common item and you should not go out and pay a dime for one! There are some things for which Medicare won't pay (generally, stuff used in the bathroom, etc.) but wheelchairs, Hoyers, electric hpospital beds, etc. Medicare simply needs an order from the physician and they can contact a rental company and arrange to have it delivered to you.

Once you get it and receive your instruction, if you still are confoozed, come back and ask any remaining questions about its use.

Hi Moms_Buddy and Merrwid,
Thanks for replying to my post.

I am going to contact Mom's doctor tomorrow, though she has a new doctor who has never met her, (long story). I though I'd do some checking during this past weekend just in case I run into a brick wall.

The advice I need is what NOT to do in the way of using a lift, or what NOT to buy. Just tired of learning everything the hard way.

You have a good idea about visiting a along term care facility and watching a lift being used. I tried to find a video on YouTube, which believe it or not, there was one. Unfortunantly,it was a hand powered Hoyer, and not an electric one, but it did give me a few ideas of what to expect.

The person selling the Hoyer is from Craig's list in the same area where I live. I didn't talk to him/her but did email. I doubt they know much about it as they didn't even include the model number, though I have it now.

I am looking forward to reading more posts and getting a lot smarter. Perhaps I can also pass along some hints. I do know that each day caring for mother holds new trails both up and down. As much as I use internet forums for so many other topics, it never occurred to me until today to look for an elder care forum.

Patt

Welcome. If she is on Medicare, ask her doctor to order a Hoyer for you. No cost.

Patt welcome to The Forum!
What particular piece of advise are you asking for - how they work, are they worth it, what modifications (if any) do you need to make?
Perhaps there's a long term care facility in your area where you could see one in use.
Who are you buying this from? What can they tell you about it?
I know there is someone somewhere on this board who can provide some assistance for you, but that's where I would start if I hadn't found this board.