Psychologically speaking, it’s healthy to embrace life’s challenges and to find strength and humor within them. I sometimes suggest that residents hold an “open house” party to gather their friends and family members instead of waiting for them to visit. In my post, Having Fun in a Nursing Home, I wrote about how my residents and I often laugh at the odd goings-on that can only be funny when you’ve been in a nursing home for a while, and noted a company, Draisin, that sells tandem bicycles so that an able-bodied person can accompany someone who wouldn’t otherwise be able to peddle a bike.
Beautiful carry-all bags are available for wheelchairs and walkers at HDS Medallion, and a Google search for “designer canes” turns up many wonderful options, including those available at Pat Heyward Canes.
This weekend I heard a story on NPR about Bespoke Innovations, which makes fairings, described as “specialized coverings that surround an existing prosthetic leg.” The fairings express the individuality of the wearer and those interviewed reported many compliments on their prostheses.
These are a few of the many ways we can “flip the script” on the experience of loss for those in the nursing home. Feel free to add ideas of your own in the Comments sections.