WOULD YOU TAKE THE RISK?

Risk taking- dare you do it? Particularly as limitations begin to impact on our daily life, the risk involved in even the most basic daily activity has to be assessed- and now there’s a ‘fancy’ name for it: positive risk taking.

In the care sector, be it at home or in a home, it involves weighing up the potential benefits and harms of exercising choice, empowering people to be able to undertake daily life, to access opportunities and take worthwhile chances. It’s about giving the tools to minimise and prepare for risks that can’t be avoided, but managed.

Something as simple as going the loo is a perfect example. It may seem nothing to most of us, but if you have any degree of limitation in your balance, mobility, it can be a problem. And, as something we all do, on average eight times a day, it is actually something that deserves more acknowledgement than it receives.

Rosemarie Lawy and Jay Denton are perfect examples of how equipment can eliminate the need for care support, but deliver that protection from risk when they need it.

Both have had Closomat Aerolet toilet lifters fitted at their homes, to help them get on and off the toilet.

Rosemarie, who has Muscular Dystrophy, explains: “I can adjust the height to suit according to my level of tiredness and strength at the time. I was scared about falling off the toilet before. Not now, it gives me stability getting on, ‘going’ and getting off. Because it lifts me in the vertical, without tipping me, I feel in control and secure. And, on good days when I feel strong enough to leave my wheelchair at the bathroom door, it gives me the support to lean on whilst I turn and get myself organised. That feeling of independence! It is invaluable to my self confidence, and part of my exercise regime to retain what little muscle I have left.”

Adds Jay, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, “I never thought I’d get excited about a loo! I do now! Going to the loo if you’re disabled is one of the things that doesn’t even occur to you until you’re in that situation; it’s not on the radar. But when you are in that situation, it’s funny how little things make such a difference to your quality of life.

“The Aerolet gives me the adaptability, flexibility to still ‘go; without help, depending on how good or bad I’m feeling that day. It enables me to use my legs, if possible. How I am feeling depends on how high I need the unit to raise me to standing. Without it, on bad days, I could potentially end up sat there until someone came to help!”

It means that they are empowered to function with as little help as they need, safe in the knowledge that on difficult days, the support is there. Equipment can provide that variability; provision of care support not necessarily…

They took the risk, and demonstrate how positive management can help retain independence and dignity.

If you’d like to know more about toilet lifters and how they can help in positive risk management, click here:

http://www.clos-o-mat.com/index.php/products/toilet-lifters.html

By Robin Tuffley, marketing manager at Closomat, Britain’s top brand in independent toileting technology

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source https://ukcareguide.co.uk/would-you-take-the-risk/