baths outside of home

alimagoo

New Member
Hi.. I am a senior and also a caregiver to a lady with multiple injuries of knees and shoulders who is having a great deal of trouble bathing. Her injuries do not allow her to step into a bathtub, and her disabilities make it very difficult to use a shower. It is a bit difficult to explain, but I will get to the question.

Where would a person go outside of the home to take a shower in an open, spacious shower area.???

I was thinking fitness club or suchlike..

Where I come from, there is a community center which is very clean and has excercise facilities and offers beautiful, open showers to those who want to use the facilities. But I am not near home and am wondering where in the world to look for such a thing. ..where I am..

I was thinking YWCA, but something cleaner and more spotless would be better.. She would be willing to pay for the use of the shower facilities.

I am at wits end as to how to begin..

CAN ANYONE HELP ME WITH SUGGESTIONS???

many thanks
ali
 

Is it a matter of not being able to step over the side of the bathtub to get in and take a shower? If so, have you looked at bathtub transfer seats/benches? I used one of those for my grandmother years ago and it was successful. She couldn't lift her legs high enough to get over the tub side but I could sit her on the bench and slide her over to the tub, where I would bathe her with a hand-held shower. Otherwise, check out a health club. I used to belong to Planet Fitness and they had a membership for $10 a month and had very clean shower facilities.
 
Thank you so much for the kind response jujube.. I am going to look into Planet fitness..

thanks again.

ali
 

Before and after my hip surgeries, the bathtub transfer bench and shower seat worked great for me. I had to have a bit of help directly after the surgeries, but very soon I could get in and out by myself. You can frequently find the bench and shower seats at thrift stores for very little.

Seems to me that figuring out how to manage bathing at home would be a lot less trouble than trying to go elsewhere to do it.

Have you tried asking a home health care agency for suggestions?

OR would she qualify for a visiting home health care aide to come in and help her bathe?
 
I'll be investing in a new "walk in" tub for my home in the near future.

500-100011464-847__1.jpg
 
Those walk in tubs look great to me. I'd love to have one. As far as bathing outside the home, I'm wondering if there would be liability issues? A lot of places wouldn't welcome a person who was having trouble bathing at home, because most accidents happen in the bathroom. I might be wrong on this, but it's my first thought on the subject.
 
Those walk in tubs look great to me. I'd love to have one. As far as bathing outside the home, I'm wondering if there would be liability issues? A lot of places wouldn't welcome a person who was having trouble bathing at home, because most accidents happen in the bathroom. I might be wrong on this, but it's my first thought on the subject.

Good point -- I thought of that, too, and I would be surprised if that were not an issue -- their liability carriers would probably have a fit. I would also be very surprised if commercial gyms would be amenable to such a thing, anyway. Besides which, when I was so crippled up from my hips, the last place I would have wanted to be bathing, undressing, etc. would have been in a place where a bunch of fit 20-somethings were hopping in and out of the shower.

I believe you can figure it out at her home. There are all kinds of contraptions available at medical supply places to assist in bathing. The shower chair and transfer bench and hand held shower head worked very well for me, even at my worst. I was very slow at it, but it worked.

PS: If you insist on a gym, if she has Medicare, you DO know that there is a thing called Silver Sneakers which comes with Medicare and pays for free memberships at certain gyms, don't you?
 


Back
Top