73 year old Mom broke her leg. Previous stroke left her other leg weak and difficult to control. She already suffered gait and balance issues and used a rollator. Now she’s in a wheelchair but has little upper body strength and standing is nearly impossible. We can’t deadlift her 180 lbs. She’s fallen 3 times since yesterday trying to get her from wheelchair to commode. But the rehab facility will take 14 days to get in to and home health will take 10?! Any ideas on immediate care? The hospital wouldn’t admit her since she had stable vitals.
Same thing happened when my father broke his ankle. The ER put on a cast and would not admit him . He could not use crutches . He ended up walking on the cast which he wasn’t supposed to do to get back into the house and get around the house until the wheelchair and bedside commode they ordered came the next day .
Dad could not do transfers from wheelchair to commode or bed on one leg , upper body not strong , he had had chemo and was weak . We ended up having to hire an aide through an agency and Dad paid out of pocket just to do transfers during the day while I couldn’t be there ( i worked ).
the paramedics are trained on how to SAFELY get someone up off the floor without hurting themselves or the person they are helping. In most areas if there is no transport to the hospital there is no charge for the Lift Assist.
If she was discharged from the hospital and not to rehab whoever was responsible should have said that mom is not safe at home, we/I can not safely care for her. To discharge her directly to ho me is unsafe.
I would call her doctor, I would make a call to the Hospital Social Worker, I would call the rehab. I would be making as many calls as humanly possible to get mom in rehab ASAP and that is faster than 2 weeks.
No info on your bio.
Personally, I would not be trying to lift 180 lbs. I would call the fire department or an ambulance service to get her up. A private pay home care agency could possibly provide assistance sooner but please know that home health provided by Medicare insurance won’t be there but a short while each visit for a nurses visit or a bath.
Drill down on why she is falling. Is she over medicated, dizzy, not being assisted? Does your mom have a bedside commode? A walker? You may have to use diapers until she can get going with the therapy. She should be in inpatient therapy in MHO. Many times elders are so sure they can manage at home when they truly can’t and as you have discovered 180 lbs is too heavy for an untrained person to manage.
Order a belt online, look for "gait" belt or "transfer" belt. There's many of them to choose from on Amazon that deliver quickly. Youtube vids can help you learn how to use it.