Aïcha

Aïcha is a 70-year-old woman who provides about 112 hours of help a week to her husband who has been quadriplegic for nearly a decade. He receives 32.5 hours of formal care per week. She does not have a job now. Her husband is slightly older than her and needs help in most of his daily activities (eg going to the bathroom, eating, etc.).

Needs Current Approaches Alternate Suggestions 

 

 What could be created?
1. Aïcha would like transfers to be easier and safer, especially in the washroom. She considers her husband at risk of falling off the toilet and she considers herself at risk of injury. Aïcha physically helps her husband in his transfers. Her husband does not want to be transferred using the hoist.
2. Aïcha worries when her husband goes out alone with his wheelchair. Aïcha and her husband’s house was made accessible so that he can leave the house independently. There is no sidewalk where her husband wanders.
3. Aïcha would like her husband’s standing movements to be safer for him (to reduce the risk of falling) and for her (risk of getting hurt by assisting him). Her husband sometimes moves upright inside using a walker. Aïcha must assist him in the transfer and monitor him. To train for walking, he has Canadian crutches. When he uses them, Aïcha assists him in the transfer and accompanies him with a walking belt.
4. Aïcha and her husband live in the suburbs therefore paratransit only picks people up early in the morning and drops them off at dinner time. She would like to have other transportation alternatives. In addition to their paratransit service, Aïcha and her husband own a suitable car that she drives to transport him.

 

 
5. Aïcha is concerned about her husband’s weight gain since being in a wheelchair and the impact this could have on his health. Her husband does physiotherapy once a week and sometimes goes to the gym with a trainer.
6. Aïcha would like to have follow-ups by professionals to manage the different medical conditions since she finds that she does not have the training to do so. She applies advice she received in the past.
7. Aïcha would like to have more rest time. Currently, it is difficult to find carergivers so she can’t take breaks.
8. Aïcha would like to have a system so that her husband can control his environment.
9. Aïcha would like to reduce bureaucratic requirements to enable her to have faster access to services. (eg home adaptation).