Heavy lifting [of people!] equipment

Would anyone be able to tell me whether the lifting apparatus in the link [widely used by ambulance services], which basically consists of a battery-powered compressor connected by airlines to conjoined inflatable cushions, could feasibly be improvised more cheaply, and if so how we'd best go about it? We are sorely in need of such a device.

https://www.johnpreston.co.uk/mangar-elk-emergency-lifting-cushion-and-airflo-24

Edited By Bill Phinn on 15/12/2022 00:24:12

Ebay might be a starting point

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155267284314

Bill

various pneumatic widgets might suffice

Yes, I've scoured the secondhand offerings on ebay. Where the price is affordable, my reservations are usually about how hard the equipment has been worked, and whether the battery is still reasonably capable of holding a charge. I know you said ebay is just a starting point, but that one does look heavily used and has no charger or controller.

As an alternative to secondhand Mangars I was wondering whether a portable tyre-inflater style compressor and some inflatable pillows or camp beds could be improvised.

That does look interesting, Ady.

I note most of these things (apart from very heavy duty vehicle air bags) are termed as ‘emergency’.

Personally, I prefer hydraulic rather than pneumatic, particularly for larger lifts (as in ‘higher) as any split would result in a very rapid deflation. So that is my advice - go hydraulic, like most fluid lifting devices around.

Hydralic is not suitable for this device. You would need at least 30 liters of fluid, probably more. Not very portable.

I hope that I have understood what you are after correctly

You only need about 3 PSI in these bags & I inflate airbags ( size 2.4 * 1.5 diam) for laying moorings weighing up to 2.5 tonnes with a simple high volume, low pressure pump costing £18-00. iin under 15 minutes. But mine is 240 V & you want 12 V

May I suggest 2 options first is an inflatable dinghy pump as sold by marinescene & other yacht chandlers- There are many- Marine scene

Or you could just use a simple hand pump as I use for my Avon dinghy. Stirrup pump they do foot operated ones. It is not rocket science to make the adaptors fit You would inflate your bags in a 30 strokes of the pump & for the cost it is worth experimenting. You will not have battery issues to worry about.

For batteries one could just get small ones & keep them charged such as a scooter battery. Or go into an RC model shop & buy a couple of LIPO batteries & a charger & get them to explain how to charge & store them. They may even solder the correct connections on for you if you ask.

Get in touch with your local REMAP panel. We've used pneumatic car jacks for similar purposes, in conjunction with a battery operated dinghy pump as mentioned by Sam. Go to www.remap.org.uk to find your local panel and/or make a referral.

Scroll down to the videos on Bills link and the application of the device and what is required becomes clear.

Mike

Air bags are eminently suitable for lifting quite heavy items, when I was in the Air Force we used them for lifting large heavy aircraft, they operate on very little Pounds per square inch. Dave W

Apologies. I thought that he had the cushions but could not pump them up. Careless of me

This forum no longer allows me to edit my post which is a little iritating. Otherwise I would remove it.

But if it is air bags that are wanted, then go & see a bouncy castle firm & get some glued up. Then use the pumps that I suggested. They could probably make the bag seat shaped as well, thus putting the patient into a sitting position

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 15/12/2022 09:43:25

Those cordless airpumps crank out a lot of air at low pressure for dinghys etc

You can see them in action on youtube

The issue with improvised systems will be stability.

The proper thing is made as several sections to help control wobbling around as it goes up. Presumably there is something clever inside the bags to justify the outrageous price.

The big car jack bags are seriously squidgy in all directions. They rely on the weight of the car and grip of the un-lifted wheels to stop them flexing their way out.

For people lifting I'd be much happier with the airbag in some sort of parallelogram style frame with a seat on top so the airbag just lifts. The frame gives stability.

Clive

Those are pretty specialised for lifting people who have fallen and can't get up because they and their carer are ill, elderly, frail etc. Does not seem very safe to try to jury rig something out of a car jack bag. The person could roll off the side of that.

If you are caring for someone at home and they have a fall, you are best to call an ambulance. They will come and help and have the training and gear to do it safely. I only found that out after my late wife had a fall and I just about did my back in lifting her up as a dead weight. Wish I had known it or thought of it on the night.

Has the OP considered exactly how he would get the bag under the casualty? Is the intention just to raise their upper body into a sitting position untill help comes, or raise the entire frame. How does the bag help get the person on to their feet without them rolling off & sustaining further injury. Or just as bad - creating undue stress during the process.

Is the intention to make a comfortable bed?- In which case a decent lilo would be just as good. Placed correctly & then inflated might ease the pressure points for a while.

Ambulances can take a long time to arrive.

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 15/12/2022 11:22:27

Many thanks for everyone's replies.

Apologies for the long post, but I think some explanation is necessary.

Yesterday my parents, who, in spite of extreme dementia, both still live in their own home, had three falls between them. They're now falling on average four or five times a week.

My father is 6ft tall, 15 1/2 stone with size 12 feet, shovels for hands and the build of Mick McManus. My mother is lighter, but both are even heavier than a dead weight when you're trying to lift them because their dementia means they often actively resist efforts to help them.

We've summoned an ambulance for them around eight times in the last six months. On only two of those occasions was there any physical injury requiring medical attention. I don't like to have to summon an ambulance for just a fall, partly because of the strain on the NHS and partly because of the interminable waits.

On four of these occasions I cancelled the ambulance after a four or five hour wait [the 999 call handler said it would be around nine hours] because I was able to get help from a third family member who lives 7 miles way. Clearly, I can't depend on that help from non-resident family 24 hours a day.

My wife and myself can usually get my mother to her feet if she falls, but my father is another matter. I've managed to get him off the floor entirely on my own three times, but each occasion was harder than the last, and I know my limits.

Acting on advice from a family friend, we recently subscribed [after enormous efforts, involving a City Councillor, at getting the very sluggish ball rolling] to a local authority-led Community Response service, which is a paying service and will send out teams with the Mangar gear to do the lifting instead of the NHS.

We've used this service twice already in the last week and we've only been enrolled for a week. The total number of falls we've had to deal with in the last week is actually five, though, so we're trying to use the service sparingly.

Even so we were told yesterday after my father had a second fall while the response team were still here packing away their gear that if we get more than one lift in a day from them we can't call them out again that day and will need to summon an ambulance for assistance. This means we would be back to square one, with nine-hour [plus?] waits ahead of us.

Hopefully this explains my need for lifting gear of my own.

I'll respond to some of the suggestions raised in a later post.

Thinking differently would not a demountable frame 2.2 M tall a bit like a child's swing with a small electric hoist work?

4 stainless steel 25mm diam legs & a short cross bar with 4 sockets. Just put it together over them & the hoist could be on 1 leg with a dynema cord going up over a light pulley clipped to the top

If they fall over a lot, have one permanently welded up with 4 small castors & just move it over them.

Lift the casualty with a webbing strop under the arms.

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 15/12/2022 15:21:29

He should be in a wheelchair now IMO, before something gets badly broken

The big guys always struggle with old age, it's great when you're young but it's the little skinny runty guys who thrive in old age, (I used to do residential nursing home stuff)

I'm managing my own folks too ATM, but there's 3 of us to spread the load about

edit: back to the thread

Look for any care homes closing down locally, the increase in care costs means there will be closures and that means spare equipment looking for a good home

Another possibility, a modified car engine hoist?

Edited By Ady1 on 15/12/2022 15:26:43

When my father was alive I had a similar problem, he used a wheelchair to get around his bungalow but would fall at times either from a chair or bed and end up lying on the floor overnight. As he only had bad legs and couldn't use them to lift himself, he needed me to lift him onto a seat. I thought of this problem and the main difficulty is getting something under them initially to use as a support to lift. Most places that have to do this use two people, one either side to lift under the arms, difficult for one person particularly if the person struggles. Probably something along the lines of a screw lift chair with bars which could be slipped under a person even without lifting them to do so would work. Air cushions would be difficult to slide under a person unless you had room to roll them to the side and back, again difficult with a non co-operative one. Maybe there is something out there in the medical apparatus field that would work but I think most places that would have a use for it just use two people (or more0.