Has anyone used or seen the Williamson Turn Stand? It's a device used to help a person rotate or pivot. It's quite a problem getting my husband out of his lift chair, turned to get in the wheelchair, then again turning to get on the toliet. Does anyone have any suggestions to make this easier? Any ideas appreciated. Thanks.

I had lots of experience with your problem. I expect that it is pricey so I would not buy it until I saw it demonstrated or if they would loan you one to try.

It is hard to answer you without seeing your hubby and the space with which you have to work. Each patient's abilities are different. How large is your husband and how strong are you? Can your hubby walk well (I'd guess the answer is no)? How is his coordination in general? And how old are you? If you have a small bathroom, it is more difficult. It sounds as if he has a hard time making a step--which is a problem my wife had. (When you say lift chair, I assume you mean a recliner type chair that has a lift seat).

My gut feeling is that it will not work for you. First, he has to step (a known problem) up onto the WTS. Then, to help him sit down, you have to go around the WTS to help him sit. In a small bathroom, it would be worse. Do you have grab bars in the bathroom?

You actually have two separate issues--the lift chair and the bathroom. What about having a potty chair near his recliner chair, and using a Hoyer Lift to transfer?

As my wife declined, I had to change the process I used several times. It will kill your back. If you want, I will be glad to talk to you by phone. It is somewhat difficult to discuss here.

If he is not too much larger than you are, and can bear weight to stand, you might be able to to the bathroom transfer with a swivel disk. This is used by wheeling the wheelchair up to the toilet at a 90 degree angle, his feet on a swivel disk for the transfer. This would eliminate his need to take steps during the transfer, but you would need to be standing right in front of him to elp swivel his body on the disk.

I am not familiar with the Williamson Turn Stand, but have used similar devices. He would need to be able to hold himself in a standing position and hang on to the bars with his hands. I am usually wary of using a device that places an obstacle between me and the person I am moving. Would he be strapped in at all?

I used a swivel disk as well--used it once or twice--was tricky--trashed it. It seems to be less an obstacle in close quarters than a WTS.

The person has to stand on the swivel disk while you gradually turn them in place. Then, they step off the disk so you (or they) can pull down their clothes and sit on the potty.

Thank you for your replies. In looking at the info about the WTS it appears that you don't actually step up on it from the floor. It says the patient holds on to the handlebars for balance, is helped to stand up, then the platform is turned to the desired position and the patient is relocated. Our bathroom is fairly large so it might work space wise. I'm going to check locally and see if I can find something similar that I can actually look at. Thanks for the info about the Hoyer lift and swivel disk, I'll check into these too. I was refering to a recliner type power chair that he sits in during the day.