Walk-In / Safety Bathtubs for Seniors & Assisted Living Facilities

As we age, many of the things we used to do don't come as easily. Many seniors have more difficulty reading, hearing or doing physical activity. For those seniors living in an assisted living environment, these difficulties can often times be much more pronounced.

It is the job of any good assisted living facility to make every day tasks more manageable and accessible for it's residents. Items like handrails to prevent falling, easier to manage locks, handles and latches all make life easier for elderly or mobility-impaired residents in an assisted living environment.

We are all aware that the bathroom is one of the most accident-prone areas of any house - for anyone - not just seniors. The floors are often wet, and falls are all too common. In an assisted living or any care environment, making the bathroom area safer is of utmost importance. One item that can make any bathroom safer, especially for our senior population, is a walk in bathtub.

Walk in bathtubs allow easy entry and exit by incorporating a door in the side of the bathtub, and a low step - thereby eliminating the need to "hike your leg over" a high bathtub wall. Many walk in bathtubs come with a booster seat that provides additional height for those who find it difficult to rise from a sitting position. The controls are easy to reach, and the handle is easy to close.

Walk in bathtubs come in many sizes, and with optional features available. Some tubs come with warm air massage, which offer a relaxing, therapeutic element to bathing. Others offer hygienic whirlpool systems to eliminate the risk of infectious bacteria.

With so many walk in bathtub models on the market, it can be difficult to choose the best one for your needs. There are many things to consider:

Cost: The price of walk in bathtubs can range from $3000 up to $15,000. However, you should be able to buy a walk in bathtub that will suit your needs for around $5,000.

Is the bathtub certified? Walk in bathtubs should be certified to safety standards in the country in which they are made. In the United States, CSA/UL certification is equivalent to American Standards Association.

Who will install it? Just like any regular bathtub, a good plumber will be able to install your walk in bathtub.

What is it made from? Most walk in bathtubs use gel coat fiberglass and acrylic. Metal reinforcement is not necessary in a walk in bathtub, as fiberglass is incredibly strong.

Size considerations: Sizes vary from space-saving models that hold about as much water as a regular bathtub, to much larger models that hold a lot more water. For larger models, you'll need to determine if your water heater has the capacity to handle the larger volume of heated water. Also, most bathrooms are fairly small, so a larger model might now be good for space considerations.

Door swing: The door swing depends on the size of the tub. Inward door swings need more room inside the tub, and you'll need more room once you are there to maneuver around the door to get in or out of the tub. Outward swinging doors allows for a smaller bathtub, less water use, and eliminates the need to maneuver around the door to enter or exit. Many people believe that outward swinging doors are prone to leaking. This is not true - they do not leak!

Why does it have an external drain? Some walk in bathtubs have a small external drain just below the door in the bathtub. The purpose of this drain is to catch the water droplets that fall from the open door and seal, which prevents water from getting on the bathroom floor. They are not there because the tub leaks!

Step-in Height: This can also vary between models, and also between companies. Some baths require the bather to step up more than 7 inches to enter the bathtub, which can be quite high. There are models that only have a step in height of 2 inches, making access much easier!

Door Closure: There are several closure systems for walk in bathtubs. Some have a small lever or handle and others may have button actions to close the door. Longer-handled closures give the bather more leverage to open and close the door.

Of course, as mentioned above, there are a lot of different options with walk in bathtubs. Warm air or water massage systems are two of the more popular optional features that you can get with a walk in bathtub.

Many assisted living facilities offer walk in bathtubs for their residents. Obviously, these specialized bathtubs offer a higher degree of safety in the bathroom. Additionally, walk in bathtubs are therapeutic, increasing the relaxing effects of bathing while reducing the anxiety of potential falls and accidents in the process.

For more information on walk in bathtubs and safe bathing options, we recommend that you visit www.safetybath.com

- by the staff at Assisted Living Directory