Locations for acquiring equipment at reasonable cost and always check with Medicare, they seem to cover a lot.
St Vincent DePaul
Goodwill
Secondhand stores
Security
Use Tiles or some other tracking device to keep track of your devices and equipment. Not so much that they can’t be replaced, but it can be very inconvenient if someone “accidently” walks out the door of a restaurant with your love one’s Parkinson’s cane, Parkinson’s walker, Wheelchair or Transport chair. Because of their size, some restaurant would “park” them near their exit door. With Tiles you can quickly see that they are on the move or changing location
Also, add some to help you identify your things at a distance. Ray put Turks Head knot on everything and I used brightly colored electric tape on the aluminum walker, they all look alike.
No Equipment
For quite a long time we enjoyed going for walks without any equipment for a hour or more on the paths along the beach and around Lincoln Park. Watching for seals, seal lions, eagles, whales, or just enjoying people watching and meeting neighbors out for a walk, too. On one of these walks was when I first notice that his right arm wasn’t swing at all, an early symptom of Parkinson’s (which I didn’t know at the time). Slowly the walks got to be shorter and fewer because he started to get too tired. Getting all the way home, even with shorter walks and multiple breaks became a problem
Unpurchased Equipment
Store’s Shopping Carts: Cal, unlike many men, loved to shop. At a grocery store he utilized the store’s shopping cart as a “walker” for a couple of years.
The Store’s Mobile Shopping Carts: When the walking became too much for him, we transition to the Store’s Mobile Shopping Carts. This worked great for a long time at grocery stores or big stores like Costco and he really enjoyed the freedom.
We had to give up on using them when he would suddenly melt mentally without warning. It was like he suddenly wasn’t there, and he had just checked out. We would be shopping, talking and suddenly “Cal had left the building.”
I finally had to say “Uncle,” when at Costco, I needed fast help to keep Cal wiping out a VERY LARGE display of Olive Oil. A couple of Costco employees and a couple of customers helped avoid a huge mess until I could take over driving the Mobile Shopping Cart.
In store grocery shopping was difficult after that without Ray joining us. We made some trips in the wheelchair with him holding a shopping basket in his lap and reusable shopping bags hanging off the handles of the wheelchair. I don’t know anyone that can push a wheelchair and a grocery cart at the same time. That when I learned about Grocery Store Delivery service and on-line shopping. Glad I was experienced with it before Covid hit.
Canes
Cal’s Father’s cane was all he needed at first. Ray would show up with other styles and designed Cal might like.
The best cane for Cal was the “InStep Laser Cane for Parkinson’s.” It was the most helpful for Cal’s comfort, adjustability, had laser light to help sometimes when freezing occurred it would also hang off a table edge and pretty much stay put. I think they vendors may now have a metronome accessory for the cane. (But, I do recommend hooking a Tile on it)
Walkers
Cal’s first walker was the aluminum style that fold up and people often put tennis balls on two of the legs (we found out that they do come in sizes, when I couldn’t use Cal’s when I had my knee surgery. Cal was almost 6’ and I am 5’2”)
Cal’s next and final walker was a “U Step Neuro” Parkinson’s walker. If you or your loved one is dealing with Parkinson’s I strongly recommend using a walker meant to be used by Parkinson’s patients. The other walkers and the Parkinson’s walkers are NOT interchangeable. If my memory is serving me correctly it was paid for Cal’s Medicare. I think we paid for the laser and metronome accessory out of pocket.
The main difference in the U Step Parkinson’s Walker and traditional walkers is that the Parkinson’s walker’s brakes are ON ALL THE TIME until the person using it squeezes the hand brake and the brake releases and the person can move forward, much safer for a person with Parkinson’s. While a traditional walker’s brakes AREN’T ON until the hand brake is squeezed and the walker stops.
Transport Chair
Cal’s transport chair was the first of the two chairs with wheels we got. The transport chair has smaller wheels, the person using it needs someone to push it or if they want the footrest could be removed. With the footrest removed Cal could run all over the house under his own power by using his feet or in Cal’s case he would use the chair like a walker and sit things on the seat to take from point A to point B. After getting the wheelchair, we left the transport chair at home and the wheelchair in the car.
We paid for the transport chair out of pocket, because, at that time, Medicare would pay for Transport Chair or the Wheelchair, but not both.
Wheelchair
The Wheelchair that Medicare paid for was great to have available. With the larger wheels it was much easier to use than the transport chair out in the world that have variety in surfaces you need to push the chair over.
The particular chair we had was lighter, and basically came apart so that I could lift into and out of the car.
Much of this equipment was obtained long before Cal needed it. Cal was always planning ahead and would trying to anticipate his upcoming challenges. We didn’t know much about Parkinson’s progression but we did what we could to get ready. Cal was always trying to help make decision that would make our caring of him easier on me as well as Ray and Rachel. I hope this information helpful and can give you a starting point on making decisions.
-Peg