FROM OUR FAMILIES( continued)
• What can you expect hospice to cover? What do they not typically cover or provide? Hospice regulations may have restrictions, but at the end of the disease, hospice is very comforting.
• Medicare eligibility, Disability eligibility
• Typical drugs that many PSP patients take. I realize this is a tough one, as no single list works for any one patient. But it can be a good conversation starter with your physician.
• Which drugs are always wastes of time— if there truly is such a list?
• Support group meetings in my area
V. Products and Practical Pointers Based on Experiences with Eileen
Al Nixon
Retired engineer and president of a manufacturing company, living in Farmington, Connecticut
64
• Use a gait belt to assist your loved one out of a chair or off the floor.
• A wheelchair should have a seat belt.
• Always have a water bottle and throat lozenges with you for coughing spells.
• Purchase a baby’ s suction machine to clear mucus in the nose.
• Buy elastic-waist pants to make toileting easier.
• Buy coats in a larger size for ease of putting on and taking off.
• When installing grab bars onto toilet, you will need a toilet seat with metal bolts, not plastic.
• Mealtime: To keep plates from sliding, place them on a rubberized shelf liner.
• When lifting your loved one from the kitchen chair, place a piece of shelf liner under their feet to prevent them from sliding out from under.
• Before serving any hot liquid, test it yourself to make sure it is not too hot.
• Use mouth swabs or your finger to clear pocketing or“ roofing” of foods.