I have had semi-electric hospital beds in my home for decades. (Medicare doesn't provide fully…read moreelectric hospital beds.) The current bed's control began to fail, leaving the occupant in the same position for many hours. Medicare could not tell us if the bed was five years old or not; a DME (durable medical equipment) provider of Medicare beds would have to do that.
We were in need of a specific feature on a bed made by Drive Medical. Years ago, such beds had a mechanical way to manually change the position of a home care hospital bed in case the power goes out. But no more! Most beds now have a 9-volt battery installed inside the motor housing or some equally inaccessible location, particularly for the occupant of the bed, and particularly if the room is dark because the power is out! What are these manufacturers thinking!?
While the Drive battery is now in the bed's hand control, be aware that its sole purpose is to provide enough power just to let the bed down to the flat position! At least the occupant (if a spare battery is within reach) or care partner can change the battery easily. We change the battery every 6 months, with the time change, when we also change the smoke alarm batteries. We also keep a few spare 9-volts in the refrigerator; if there is a small refrigerator in the occupant's bedroom for medications, ice, food, or drinks, that's an ideal place for batteries. We have never experimented with them to see if the knees can be raised/lowered or the head raised once it is down with the power out.
A to Z Medical Equipment and Supplies was, thankfully, the first and only company I called. They confirmed that they carried Drive Medical beds with the backup battery in the hand control. Getting replacement equipment from Medicare has become a process. Our home care physician had to visit in person to confirm that the bed was indeed faulty. A to Z Medical was able to determine when the bed had been delivered--4 years and 11 months ago! I panicked, but only for a moment. Given the circumstances, A to Z would deliver a new bed the next day and bill Medicare later. In fact, the bed and the doctor arrived at the same time.
There was one problem which I might have foreseen and now you might, too, if you need a replacement bed. The single driver was shown the location of the broken bed and asked me if I had someone who could disassemble the bed: he was expecting a space where he could place the new bed, not this. I called one of our attendants, who was in the middle of getting new glasses. He dropped everything and came over. The driver, meanwhile, left, saying he would return. When he did, the attendant had easily removed the head and foot but was struggling to get the platform folded in thirds. He asked the driver if he knew how to fold it and he stepped right in. Then I realized the ridiculousness of his "not my job" mentality. The old Drive bed and the new one were identical so he could have pivoted and had the old bed disassembled in less than 5 minutes[ it is easier than getting the pieces assembled by yourself. My employee could have saved his time off and gasoline, and continued getting his glasses uninterrupted. I did call A to Z's Sales team and thanked them for their compassionate creativity before I suggested that they better coordinate the situation and the driver's instructions. You might ask them to verify the same if you are receiving any large equipment that might be difficult to get through hallways or doorways, or as in this case, it is replacing an existing piece of equipment that will need to be disassembled and removed. Which reminds me that this driver was not willing able to do anything with the old bed. Since it was inoperable, and we had someone who could take it out to the curb, we had our solution but you might want to ask your DME about their disassembly and disposal policies. Some other options include alerting a junk collector (We use Nextdoor.) donating reparable items to Goodwill stores that hire workers who clean and repair items for sale; not all do, or donating useable items to an appropriate local charity.
