Sitting on a Hoyer pad

I've been using the Hoyer for three days. The one thing I don't like about it is I have to sit on it the whole time I'm up. Both of my previous nursing homes had Hoyer pads that could be removed after a transfer. I didn't HAVE TO go out with a Hoyer pad under me. Both, nursing homes had a Hoyer pad that could be pulled out from behind my back after a transfer. My first nursing home removed the pad after each transfer. My second left it behind me while I was in the facility, but they would take it out when I went on an outing.

I was sitting looking out the unit door at the remnants of the falling leaves. I was also thinking about how the landscaping around the facility's sign needs to be cleaned up.

Then I turned and my sister was walking the other way. I haven't seen her since mid-October. It was a chilly but beautiful day and I so wanted to get out, even though there were tons of things that we needed to do here.

I told her I was sitting on a Hoyer pad. I said I didn't think there was any way the pad could be pushed down so it would not show. . My sister said the Hoyer pad didn't matter, and we could go out anyway. I told her going out sitting on the Hoyer pad wasn't what I wanted to do.

I went down and talked to the director of nursing. I asked if the aides could switch out Hoyer pads before I went out because I felt uncomfortable with it under me. She said the aides could switch it. But, I told her it was resident lunchtime and I did not want to interrupt their meal by taking aides away from. It was warm inside yesterday and I was doubly uncomfortable with that mesh, Hoyer pad under me.,

My sister said she thought the nurses felt I should just adapt to sitting on a Hoyer pad all day. I told her I felt my dignity was compromised because I had to go out with a lift pad under me. If they had said, they were ordering a couple of them and could I make it through in the interim, it might've been different. I like to be asked to cooperate rather than have a decision pushed on me. I told my sister that we can always empathize with another's situation because we have no idea why they feel the way they do because we are not experiencing it.

Ultimately, I told the director of nursing I'd just stay in. I explained that I had told the nurse aides after breakfast that I might go out. I asked if there was a removable Hoyer pad and they said there was. They didn't say if it was available for me to use.

I decided to just give up the battle. I wondered if they even understood how I felt.

I would think in 2017 that no disabled person who uses a Hoyer lift, particularly a nursing home resident, should be required to sit on a Hoyer pad all day.