Pocket knife as aid to elderly.

[jackknife]

Having a relitive in an assited living place, a polite name for a nursing home, I noticed something that both Karen and I have noticed. With aging hands, and arthritis, a small sharp knife is needed for things we just used to rip open. I'm thinking of old Don, with his hide out Vic classic, and even Karen and myself trying to open modern packaging.

Visiting my 90 year old Aunt Esther, I've put my little peanut to use assiting residents of the home in simple everyday opening of stuff. Like the one old lady who couldn't tear open the foil wrapper of a granola bar. Simple things. I was walking by the bench where she was sitting, and she asked me for help, and I sat down on the bench and took out my peanut, and neatly slit open the wrapper, and she remarked how her late husband had carried a little 'pen knife' like that. I guess she was calling any small knife a pen knife, rather than particular type, like in the 70's any large single blade knife was called a "Buck knife' by the public at large. I had a nice talk with her about things, and she seemed to wax nostalgic by the sight of a traditional looking little pocket knife.

I know that I use my knife a couple of times a day for stuff just used to take a hold of and rip, but age has robbed me of that. Getting older has made me think of all those old guys I used to see that would take a little pocket knife out and neatly slit open something. I guess I had to get to that point in time to know what was going on. A small sharp edge can be a big help to an older person.

Carl.

 

[iandh]

My fiance used to be a caretaker at an assisted living facility here, and I spent entire weekends there sometimes helping the residents with small tasks around their rooms, that the small caretaking staff did not have the time to assist with (not that they didn't want to).

I could definitely see a small folder being handy. I did supply a sharpened letter opener to one resident with severe arthritis.

The only problem I could see is that some small folders are extremely hard to open, and older people's fingernails are very brittle. That's why I ended up going with the letter opener.

Ian

 

[WA Martin]

I watched one of the attendants at my grandmothers current abode trying to help another resident with some packaging. He told the attendant to just use his knife but the attendand didn't have one. I almost stepped in but since I'm not sure how they would have reacted I minded my own business. They finally found some heavy enough scissors to but the packaging.