It’s common for elderly adults to suffer from chronic illness, injury, disease and other physical challenges of old age. If your elderly mom or dad relies on family caregivers and home care providers and is confined to a wheelchair, it can be a difficult transition for them to make. Too many seniors see their wheelchair as something that restricts them instead of liberates them.
Home Health Care in Point Loma CA: Wheelchair Beautification Month
That’s why National Wheelchair Beautification Month takes place each July. It gives seniors in wheelchairs a chance to personalize them and bring some color and whimsy into their life. Most of the time, an aging parent will need the help of a family member or home care provider to execute the ideas to turn their wheelchair from ho-hum to fantastic. Exercising creativity is good for an elderly person’s self-esteem and a fun way to share their personality with the world.
Here are some simple yet impactful ways to bring some color and style to your aging mom or dad’s wheelchair:
Stickers and Patches
Whether your elderly relative picks funny quotes, sports team logos or decorative designs, stickers and patches make it incredibly easy to transform a wheelchair from plain to colorful. They can put on a few well-chosen stickers for a clean and classy look or let their wheelchair become a rolling display of their favorite topics.
Colored Tape
The teen craze for craft tape can be used to decorate wheelchairs as well. This sticky yet removable printed tape comes in different widths and patterns. You can wrap it around all the metal parts of the wheelchair and even around the wheel spokes.
Ribbon and Yarn
For wheelchair decorations that can be changed around quickly, consider ribbon and yarn. You can wrap parts of the wheelchair in the colorful fibers and quickly take them off again when the mood strikes. Many people weave ribbon or yard in the wheelchair spokes as well.
Lights
Nothing glams up a wheelchair like battery-powered light strings. Let your loved one choose between LED lights, rope lighting and even floral and decorative light strands to make their wheelchair really stand out.
Wheelchair Seat Cushion
Whether you buy one commercially or make one, a wheelchair seat cover can add comfort as well as style. There are many seat cushions in a range of fabrics, from conservative to flashy. Also, several sewing patterns allow for customization if someone in the family is handy with the sewing machine.
Spoke Covers
There are so many wheelchair spoke guards and spoke covers to choose from commercially that it’s impossible to select just one. Family caregivers and home care providers can help the aging adult choose a few to decorate the wheels of the chair, and change them out according to mood, season or holiday.
There’s no doubt that clothes and shoes reflect the style and personality of the wearer, and wheelchairs can do the same. If your elderly parent is the creative type and is looking for a way to bring some color into their life, take advantage of National Wheelchair Beautification Month and get to work.
If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring Home Health Care in Point Loma, CA, or the surrounding area, please contact the caring staff at Love 2 Live Care. Call Today 1-619-291-4663