Frank O.'s story
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"My mother-in-law had a new knee about 15 years ago, and that leg was always bad. Part of the reason we wanted her to move nearer us was because we knew she was falling over sometimes - not that she’d admit it, but we saw marks on her face a couple of times. She moved to our village and she fell over on day one. We’d moved her in and we were just leaving when she fell over the patio doorway step and broke her hip.
Time to take action
From then on there were problems with her being able to walk and stand up. We moved all the rugs so she couldn’t slip. We also visited a specialist shoe shop to have her fitted with shoes that used Velcro and not shoe laces.
"We moved all the rugs so she couldn’t slip. We also visited a specialist shoe shop to have her fitted with shoes that used Velcro."
She wouldn’t let us move furniture out of the living room, though. She wanted the room layout to stay the same and we could tell there wasn’t enough room between the furniture for her to move about safely. She used it as a crutch, which did allow her to get about, but was preventing her from walking properly.
We bought an electric chair that reclines to get you down and up without having to struggle. That was pretty good, but sometimes she got very confused with and she’d go up and down like a yo-yo! She’d phone up to say she couldn’t get out of it, and I’d ask, ‘What button are you pressing?’ and she’d say, ‘I pressed all of them.’ And you think: that’s probably why it’s not working!