DM is 5ft 1in and 23-25st - not massively 'bariatric' but nevertheless morbidly obese. She's 71 - she's been this size for decades, it's not going to change, with all the will and help in the world.
The difficulty I'm having is she's now requiring residential home placement. She's been turned down by 8 so far because she's a 'health and safety risk' as they wouldn't be able to evacuate her easily in an emergency. She's in a bariatric wheelchair which won't fit through standard doorways, and the vast majority of homes only seem to have bedrooms upstairs and tiny lifts. Other than this, she can actually transfer with supervision only, and only needs assistance of one carer for personal care and toiletting - it's not like she needs hoisting, nor does she have any complex nursing needs. She is firmly 'residential' and not 'nursing'. At a pinch, they could get her onto a standard wheeled shower chair or commode to get her out - her sitting balance is fine and, while not ideal, you do whatever it takes to evacuate someone, as it's hardly a daily occurrence.
She has a social worker who is hopping mad about these repeated refusals, as the same homes have completely bed-bound patients who would be just as difficult to evacuate for different reasons. We also don't know where these places think the magical ideal home is for her - even the more modern ones have standard width doorways on every room and seem to reserve their ground floors for group dining rooms and social areas (which DM would never want to be a part of anyway - she herself has no issues whatsoever with having to remain in one room as she's the original hermit).
Is there any kind of discrimination clause we can invoke if we get yet more refusals? As it stands, we're having to look further and further afield from where we live which is far from desirable as we would struggle to visit her more than once a week. Additionally, if the only home that will accept her happens to charge massive top-up fees, which we cannot afford, it's not like we'll be in a position to look elsewhere. She's medically very healthy - not the slightest hint of diabetes, cardiovascular disease or COPD etc - so we're probably looking at years/decades of placement.
Help? Please?
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Elderly parents
Residential homes refusing DM because she's bariatric
26 replies
ElphabaTheGreen · 08/02/2017 15:16
OP posts:
ElectronicDischarge ·
08/02/2017 21:08
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