| Wednesday, April 7, 2004 Bathtub safety for seniors There is nothing quite like an energizing bath to make a person feel vital and in charge of their life. Not to mention the sense of well-being that comes from a warm soothing soak. A nice bath not only allows us to feel and be at our best, it gives us the strength and confidence to get the most out of each and every day. And as we get older, a rejuvenating bath can be just what we need to restore self-esteem and independence, giving us comfort and the quality of life every one of us is entitled to and deserves. And yet aging can take that quality of life away. Peggy Archibald, 72, of Ladner, B.C. has kept herself active since retiring in 1995. “Friends would always ask me, ‘When are you going to slow down?’” she said. Though her body was getting older, Peggy never felt it. She did everything she could to make sure her mind and outlook stayed young. “I love to golf, dance and enjoy dinners out with my friends,” she said. “People would always ask me, ‘Where do you get your energy?’ Same way I always have I’d tell them. I start each day with a nice relaxing bath.” October 2001 brought something that Peggy wasn’t prepared for. “My son Ron had been making noise about moving me out of my house. Boy did I ever give him an earful about that,” she laughs. Ron worried, as many of us with elderly parents do, that if his mother stayed alone in her home, something bad might happen to her. “I was touched by his concern. But to my leave my home ... I just couldn’t imagine doing that. So many memories ... so much of who I am is in my house,” she said. The morning of Oct. 17 started like any other day. Peggy made herself a strong pot of coffee and let it percolate while she read her newspaper and enjoyed a nice bath. “When I tried to lift my legs to exit I couldn’t get out of the side of the bath! I tried and tried but my strength and agility just weren’t there anymore. It was as though they had suddenly vanished,” she said. Lucky for Peggy, her friend Elsie was scheduled to drop by later that day. “When I didn’t answer the door, Elsie got worried. She called Ron right away and he got in with his key. By the time they got to me I had been stranded in the tub for almost five hours.” “That was the scariest moment of my life,” Ron recalls. “I found Mom and she was curled up and shaking ... she looked terrified,” Ron recalls. “It was such an awful thing to see someone you love so much looking so scared.” It was a wrenching experience for both mother and son. “I’m not sure what was more traumatizing, being alone in the bath all that time or seeing the look on my dear sweet son’s face when he found me there.” “I gave Mom an ultimatum right then and there,” he said. “Either leave your house and get full-time care or order one of those specially-designed bathtubs I had seen in a catalogue from Premier Bathrooms.” Easy Bathe is a walk-in bath with a side-opening door that makes getting in and out easy. “Our mission is to ensure that our clients can bathe in total comfort and our service guarantees discretion and privacy are kept,” said Richard Barnes of Premier Bathroom. For more information, call (888) 596-4909.
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