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Please help us buy vital equipment
Being able to lower yourself into a hot, cleansing bath can be the highlight of your week if you have arthritis, dementia or some other long-term health condition that restricts your mobility or movement. Having a soak in warm, fragrant water and feeling your muscles relax in a safe environment can be hugely beneficial to a person's wellbeing.
Around 25% of our day centre clients would love to have a regular bath but do not have suitable facilities or the help they need to bathe safely at home. We could also provide a bathing service to around 20 visitors every week
We are currently unable to provide this valuable, life-enhancing service because the tiltable bath and other essential equipment at our William and Patricia Venton Centre in Northampton are unusable. They are now over 20 years old and can no longer be repaired and made serviceable.
Many homes are too small for a walk-in bath or the rented property cannot be adapted for a wet room. Some frail, older people cannot use a wet room and need a tilting bath. An electric bath hoist would enable our staff to lift people gently and safely in and out of the bath. Our fully-trained staff need the hoist to provide a regular, much-needed service to our day centre clients as well as local older people.
We need to buy handling belts so that people in their eighties and nineties can have the opportunity to be pampered safely. The warmth, the smell of the bath salts, the kind professionalism of our staff, everything about the experience can help people feel better in themselves.
Older people who are at risk of falls or who have circulation problems can benefit enormously from having a warm bath. A raiser transport system keeps our clients safe and ensures they feel confident when being transferred.
We will also need to buy six wheelchairs that each cost £140.