No Injuries Please!
Now that we've established how much I love my caregivers... I had a real problem in our ranch house. As Katherine grew, I was certainly risking a back injury as I lifted Katherine in and out of the bathtub every few days. As much as I like to travel, I couldn't ask someone else to risk their back in my absence.
One of our regular sitters, Jenna, was Katherine's physical therapist, she ran several miles a week and practiced yoga. She did a great job teaching Katherine how to assist with the transfers and was strong enough to help her do it. When Jenna talked about not being able to do this much longer, I knew we really had a problem.
Meanwhile, Katherine had learned to use her power chair at school, and we had put a portable ramp up to our front door so she could get it in the house. It worked great for my boys and my mom, but when Katherine snuck outside on her own one day, I almost had a heart attack.
The chair is very heavy and navigating it down a hallway to bed and making a sharp turn into Katherine's bedroom was almost impossible. We were slowly scraping away the trim around her doorway. I was comfortable driving her chair down the narrow hallway at bedtime, (and could do a slightly better job than Katherine) but that is an awful lot to ask of a sitter who may or may not have spent any time around such equipment.
The other option was to lift Katherine out of her chair and carry her down the hallway, or have her crawl to her bedroom where you would then have to help her transfer from the floor to the bed. This required training and strength as well.
We went through a phase where I asked Jenna to come train any new sitter. There were just too many ways an accident could happen. Especially when you have a couple of toddlers running around to distract you.
These issues definitely contributed to our need to create an accessible space for Katherine. Knowing that she is safe and there are back-up systems in place so that I don't have to be the only caregiver was crucial. Knowing that I could hire new caregivers and not worry about them injuring themselves or Katherine gives us so much peace of mind.
