A Christmas Gift That Keeps On Giving

Nurses General Nursing

Published

A little over a year ago, I noticed my mother having difficulty holding her head upright while seated in her wheelchair. I searched everywhere for an add-on headrest for her standard manual wheelchair, with no results. Realizing the need for a functional, inexpensive, easily installed and quickly removable wheelchair head support, I designed a headrest for my mother, an Alzheimer's sufferer. Hundreds of thousands of America's aging parents are nursinng care residents who rely upon standard manual wheelchairs. Many of these residents are like my mother, unable to speak for themselves. I hear so many caretakers complaining about nursing home abuse. Who is the abuser when a caretaker sees wheelchair bound residents napping with their heads falling backward, forward and to the side without head support. Proper head support is primary for oxygen flow to the brain while facilitating better overall healthcare management, comfort and self-esteem. There is no reason why anyone having difficulty holding their head upright, while seated in a wheelchair, should suffer without a place to rest their head! This year give the Christmas gift that keeps on giving, a place for our parents to rest their heads. Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but our tired and weary parents have nowhere to rest their heads.

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