Stair lift

[FinallyRetired]

My elderly Mother in Law may be moving in with us, as she is getting too frail to live in her own home and we can't afford the minimum 50-60k per year for a nursing home in Texas where she lives. Incredibly, I've been told that's very cheap compared with nursing homes in the DC area where we live, which can be >100k fricking bucks (that's US dollars, not pesos).

She can walk with a walker but has a hard time with stairs and baths, can't cook for herself, and needs help with meds. So we're thinking of making our home handicap accessible, and my wife and I would care for her as much as we can, and call in a nurse when we can't.

In case anyone else is in the same situation, or has better ideas, here is what I've found out so far. The biggest hurdles to handicap access are stairs and bathrooms. Bathrooms are easy compared to stairs. All it takes for the bathroom are some hand grips, a special toilet seat, and a fitted cutout to make the tub into a shower only.

Today I priced a stair lift, one of those chairs that rides an installed rail. There are many on the market for straight stairs but only a couple for curved stairs. Unfortunately, my home has curved staris, and those have to be custom made and cost 11,700 installed for my home. Alternatively I can get two straight lifts for 5,600 and have her manage two steps between the curve, which I think is doable. I don't understand why a curved rail, with one motor versus two, should cost twice as much but I'm not in a position to argue. I've seen some resales on ebay but am nervous about doing my own installation.

So it looks like two straight chair lifts, some mods to the bathroom, and a ramp or two on the outside steps and we will be in the nursing home business.