Who Is The Raizer Lifting Chair For And Who Is It Not For?
In this short article, I will be answering a question we often get from prospective buyers and users of the Raizer chair; Who is the Raizer chair for?, and perhaps more importantly, Who is the Raizer chair not for?
Who is the Raizer Chair for?
The Raizer chair can be used to lift the vast majority of people who have experienced a minor injury or no injury fall.
Some of the most common medical conditions that cause falls in the elderly include Parkinson’s disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, or even just old age; all of which the Raizer is an appropriate solution for. Due to the hands-off and quiet nature of the Raizer chair, it also works particularly well with fallers who suffer from dementia or cognitive impairment.
What organisations use Raizer chairs?
Many organisations in the UK use the Raizer chairs to respond to falls, including:
- Hospitals. A large number of hospitals use Raizer chairs to respond to minor or no-injury inpatient falls that occur in or around the hospital, improving the patient experience and minimising the impact on staff time.
- Care Homes. Care homes are increasingly being equipped and enabled to respond to falls themselves, using Raizer lifting chairs alongside the HelpFall post-falls decision support tool, to improve the care of the residents and take pressure off the ambulance service.
- Domiciliary Care and Home Care. Dom care and home care organisations are increasingly offering falls response as part of their services, with organisations such as Home Instead making the Raizer chair a standard offering across their franchises.
- Response Teams. In recent years there has been a push on setting up Rapid Response and Urgent Community Response teams across the country, many of which are now equipped with Raizer chairs to respond to falls in the community and take pressure off emergency services.
- Ambulance Trusts. Many ambulance trusts have response cars and CFR teams equipped with Raizer lifting chairs, enabling faster falls response and putting more ambulance hours back into the system.
Who is the Raizer Chair not for?
For some medical conditions, or in certain scenarios, the Raizer chair may not be the best option.
If the faller is not able to transfer to standing or be safely transferred after being lifted by the Raizer chair, then the Raizer chair isn’t the most suitable option for them. For non-ambulant or bed-bound fallers, flat-lifting equipment is a more suitable alternative, as it allows the faller to be lifted in a lying position and easily transferred into a bed.
The Raizer’s safe working load of 150kg caters to the majority of ambulant fallers, however, any person over this weight won’t be able to be lifted using the Raizer. Instead, we would recommend looking at inflatable lifting equipment such as inflatable cushions or flat lifts designed for bariatric fallers.
Also, if the fallen person has suffered a major injury such as a hip fracture, the Raizer chair should not be used; all major injury falls should be dealt with by qualified paramedics with the appropriate equipment.
Can the Raizer chair be used to lift someone who is sitting down?
The short answer to this question is yes, but there are a couple of potential issues, the first being if someone doesn’t have good core strength or balance, they may not be able to stay upright when they lift their knees to get the seat unit underneath.
The other potential problem is that when the backrest is coming up, the first part to touch the fallen person is the bottom edge of the backrest which can be uncomfortable. At this stage, you can pause the lift and encourage the person to recline back onto the backrest which is now at roughly 30 degrees rather than completely horizontal.
Summary
As you can see, the Raizer lifting chair can be used to safely and quickly lift the majority of fallers from the floor. I trust this article has given you a clear outline of who the Raizer is suitable for, and who it is not suitable for. If you have any other questions, feel free to fill in the contact form at the bottom of the page, or just give us a call on 01473 741144.
Related articles
How Do You Buy the Raizer Lifting Chair?
How Do You Lift an Elderly Person Who Has Fallen? (With Or Without Equipment)
An Ergonomic Comparison of the Raizer Chair vs Mangar Cushions from Anglia Ruskin University
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Terry Smith
