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Recommendations on a comfortable hospital bed?

16 years ago

My husband's best friend has ALS and just got a hospital bed. He said it is so uncomfortable, he can't possibly make do with it (and he's not a complainer). Do any of you have recommendations on a brand and model of hospital bed that your dear one found comfortable, or at least, acceptably so?

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Comments (4)

agnespuffin
16 years ago
The bed is not the problem, the mattress is. His best bet is to invest in what is called an egg-crate pad that goes over the regular mattress. A medical supply store should be able to furnish a good one. I have seen them also in stores like WalMart.

If he can't find an egg crate....a regular foam pad that's about 2 inches thick will help. Call a nearby nursing home to see where they get theirs.
User
16 years ago
Hospital bed mattressess are just awful. Plastic coated, poorly made, no support. He needs to look for a mattress that will bend with the bed, he may have to try them out. Then he should get a memory foam mattress topper - 3' or 4" thick, or even a memory foam mattress, that might work very well. Very comfy and good support. He can get the mattress topper at Walmart, or on Ebay or Overstock. He can probably get a mattress from eBay or Overstock.

Good luck.
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mikie_gw
16 years ago
New hospital bed recently installed here and they returned and installed what they called a gel pad on the matress.

Its about a four inch thick memory foam type thing, I think. Certainly built a form fit hole where my dad lays - that indentation sticks, doesnt return to a fluffed up state during the few hours when he's not in it.

Makes the bed just a bit too high for his foot to naturally touch the ground when sitting, even at the beds lowest setting too.
I dont think there's any jelly in it, but I may be wronk.
sweeby
16 years ago
I'm also bed-shopping. I can't seem to find any actually in set up in the medical supply houses to look at. On the Internet, I've seen a few brands, but also cautions not to buy "some flimsy homecare bed" and to get a real hospital quality (reconditioned) bed instead.

I know the mattress will have a lot to do with it -- But anyone know if the Homecare beds really are flimsy? And what brand/model would you say is or is not flimsy.

Mom wants to buy (not rent) a full-electric bed, and Medicare isn't really an issue.

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