A hospital bed is longer, taller, and heavier than the bed it replaces, and it has to be reached from more than one side. Before the delivery is booked, check the room the way the bed will be used, not the way the room looks on an ordinary day.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Get the footprint in writing
Ask the supplier or the hospice for the bed's overall length and width with the footboard and any side rails in place, and its height at the lowest and highest settings. Ask for the length of the power cord and where the motor and controls sit. Write these numbers beside your own room measurements, not in your head.
Mark the bed on the floor
Lay painter's tape on the floor in the exact rectangle the bed will occupy, and leave it there for a few days so everyone walks around it. Stand inside the tape and move around it as a caregiver would. Can you reach the head, the side that faces the chair, and the foot without stepping over a cord or the edge of a rug? Then check the path from the bed to the bathroom door and to the outside door, because a wheelchair, a stretcher, or a person being helped to stand will need to pass through it.
Check the swing of every door
Open the bedroom door and any closet door with the tape in place. If a door hits the bed in any position, the room needs the bed moved, not the door forced. Also check whether a person can stand at the bedside and turn around without catching a dresser, a window sill, or a heater.
Find the outlet before the bed is placed
The bed needs power for its motor, and you will probably want power for a lamp and any monitor beside it. Find the nearest working outlet on the wall the bed will face. Note whether it is on a switch, whether it already carries a space heater or a machine, and whether a cord would cross the walking path. Do not plan to run the bed from an extension cord or a power strip unless the supplier has said so in writing. A cord across a doorway is a trip hazard that nobody notices until the room is in use at night.
Choose the side the caregiver works from
Most nighttime care happens from one side of the bed. Choose that side now. Then check whether the chair, the bedside table, a glass of water, tissues, the phone, and a light can all be reached from that spot without crossing the room. The chair should sit where you can use it at the height the bed is set, and it should not block the path to the door.
Ask the supplier four things before delivery
- Who carries the bed up or down stairs, and what must be cleared first.
- What happens if the bed does not fit at the planned spot, including whether they will leave it and how they will relocate it.
- Who returns to adjust the bed if the room or the arrangement changes.
- Who you call at night if the controls or motor stop responding, and whether that call goes to the supplier or to the hospice.
Sort the equipment list between hospice and family
Under the Medicare hospice benefit, the hospice supplies equipment needed for the terminal diagnosis, and the hospice team can tell you which items it provides and which the family may need to arrange. Ask the nurse for the equipment list in writing and set it beside your room measurements. If the hospice provides the bed but not the mattress overlay, the lamp, or the chair, that gap belongs to someone, and the name should be written down before the truck arrives. For the coverage rules themselves, see Sources. For west county contacts, see Local Help for Hospice Families.
The day it arrives
Keep the tape on the floor until the bed is placed and checked. Walk the path once while the delivery crew is still in the house. Ask them to lower the bed, raise it, and show you each control, then ask them to leave the path clear. If the bed sits more than a few inches off the tape, say so before they leave. It is far easier to correct at the door in daylight than in the middle of the night.