Jennifer Humphrey, Plymouth
Jennifer Humphrey is 73 and lives in an assisted living apartment on the outskirts of Plymouth. A retired accounts administrator, she is treasurer of the residents’ social club and enjoys spending time with her 8 year old granddaughter Daisy.
Jennifer was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in her early 50s after experiencing bowel and bladder symptoms often associated with the disease. She had also begun to notice dysfunction in one of her legs and doctors confirmed her condition as secondary progressive MS.
The problem – falls
After diagnosis, Jennifer learnt that her MS had caused degeneration of the seath around her nerves, this was causing loss information from her brain to her lower limbs, resulting in reduced mobility, her core strength remained good and she was able to continue working at her local Hospital with the assistance of a walking stick.
When her mobility first became more difficult, Jennifer’s husband was on hand to help, however he sadly died leaving Jennifer to manage her own needs. As time went on Jennifer mobility reduced significantly and she started to fall, as the number of falls increased, Jennifer found that she was increasingly unable to get herself up from the floor without help and became increasingly reliant on carers and ambulance services for support, which impacted her independence.
The experience of being lifted by carers was distressing and undignifying for Jennifer, she became concerned about the damaging effects this was having on her physical and mental health and to her care team as the task of lifting her was putting them at risk of a musculosketal injury.
Jennifer’s main goal was to find a way that she could be safely assisted up from the floor following a fall with minimal risk to herself and her carers.
The Solution – Mangar Elk
With the help from an Occupational Therapist and Mangar representative, Jennifer was recommended and provided with a Mangar ELK lifting cushion. This could be used by carers in her assisted living apartment, enabling them to support her to get up off the floor without needing to call for an ambulance. This was Jennifer’s first experience of Mangar products.
Jennifer said, “I’m not hurt when I fall but can’t get back up by myself. I feel very safe and secure when lifted on the ELK, it’s a very comfortable way to be lifted back up.”
The Mangar ELK lifting cushion enabled Jennifer to be assisted up from the floor in a safe and dignify way, it promoted best manual handling practise, helping to protect carers from musculoskeletal injury and reduced the need to call for ambulance crew support meeting all her goals.
