Get Organized! Bed pans, blankets, pills, oh my! (part 1)

　Bed pans, blankets, pills, oh my! Let's get organized!


Just like a teeny, tiny little baby can fill up a room with their  'stuff', so to can your charge. My mom had no additional storage space in her New York apartment of over forty years, and her medical supplies were all over the house. That turned day to day life into a treasure hunt, from the medicine cabinet, to the kitchen counter, to the bedside night table,  searching for that new perscription, or set of bandages, syringes, blood pressure monitor. or ointment.

I finally purchased a tower book shelf, eight feet tall, it took up only a square foot of floor space, yet I could store eight square feet of supplies. Think virtically.

Having supplies contained on one tall bookshelf, including those travel size bottles and plastic containers the hospital provides, cut out the run here, run there routine of daily caregiving. It also made it easier for visiting and short term caregivers.

In fact, basic organization can actually save a life. Can you imagine dashing through the house to find that asthma inhaler, when every second counts, or breaking your big toe on that sprint to that half moon plastic up chuck pan (appropriated from the last hospital visit) when your charge is leaning over and ready to erupt? It also made restocking easier, because I could see, at a glance, just what was missing and needed to be replaced. Cancer, or any illness,  is expensive, money is, or will be tight, and I didn't want to have to rebuy items I already had, but lost in the chaos of the front hall entrance.

I taped a medication schedule in bold print to one shelf, and added a post-it pad and pencil, for quick notes, and the numerous phone messages from the dozens of doctors, nurses, suppliers, and friends, that called each day.

The medical supply shelf should be a thing of beauty.   Let's face it.  You will visit that shelf every day, starting first thing in the morning when you dole out the wake up pills, and last thing at night when you rub lotion on their hands.  Your helpers and caregivers will go there too. So let's merchandize.  Make it organized. Let's have some fun!!   More tips next time.