Medical Equipment

A wide variety of medical equipment can be found through Abilitations. Some of this equipment can also be provided by a home health care service or hospice. E-bay can also be a good source of used adaptive equipment.

Respiratory

Movement and mobility

 
 

Positioning

  • We have found that our boys respond very well to vibration. When they are laying down on their bean bag, we have them lay on top of a full length vibrating massage pad (made by Homedics and cost about $40). See Amazon or click here to purchase.
  • We also use a small vibrating massage pad on the boys’ beds. We wrap the massage pad in a cotton pad (see purchase information in Miscellaneous section) and then put the pad under their legs. The pad has an auto shut-off after one hour so we do not need to worry about having the boys get “hot spots” while they sleep. We use the Heat Plus Massager Heating Pad by Sunbeam but do not use the heat function. Click here for purchasing information.
  • During the day, we often have the boys sit in a Love Sac. This is essentially a very large bean bag, but instead of being filled with beads, it is filled with memory foam pieces. The Love Sac comes in many sizes and the covers are removable and can be washed in the washing machine. We have a Super Sac which is very large, but can easily accommodate both boys comfortably as well as an adult in between. We often lay the long vibrating massage pads on top of the Love Sac to help with comfort. The Love Sacs can be expensive, so you may want to look for a store near you or check on eBay.
  • Use a Memory Foam Mattress Topper to minimize bed sores or “hot spots” from the massage pad on the skin. We have found that John and Christopher do not move much when they are sleeping and have a tendency to get hot spots on their skin, but the memory foam mattress topper has completely stopped that.
  • Using risers to slightly elevate the head of the child’s bed can help with breathing and swallowing. Click here for an example. These cost about $9.99 per set.

Bathing and hygiene

  • A bath chair allows the child to remain stable while he is getting a bath or shower, plus it saves your back! We have the Leckey bath chair similar to the one pictured below. You can also get an additional platform that fits under the bath chair and raises it to approximately 3-1/2 feet high. See an example here.
  • Even though your child may not eat by mouth, caring for your child’s teeth and mouth are very important and bacteria can easily build up in the mouth. Swab your child’s mouth twice per day using a disposable toothette that has been dipped in an anti-bacterial solution such as Crest Pro-Health Rinse, Biotene, or Chlor-Hexadine. If your child has difficulty swallowing, place your child on his side, with the chin tucked in to help avoid aspiration and to encourage him to spit out the anti-bacterial solution. You may also want to use a suction machine while you are doing this. Bacteria may also build up on the tongue and cause bad breath, if this is the case, use a tongue brush (we prefer the Tung Brush) to scrape the tongue and remove bacteria.

Miscellaneous

Use rubber-lined cotton pads and put them on the child’s bed or any surface he is sitting or laying on to save on laundry. These are good for catching leaks from diapers, spit ups, etc. Our boys lay on these and we put them over the vibrating pads to prevent them from getting dirty and to protect them from getting sores from laying on a vibrating motor too long.