Helen's Dad

Dad’s a Yorkshireman, and so fiercely independent - and very stubborn at times! He’s not as young as he used to be and has been struggling in his home for some years now – although there is no way he would admit it. I did offer for him to come and live with us, but he won’t give up his home and, more importantly, his independence.

I’d been thinking about getting him a stairlift for some time, but whenever I mentioned it he would claim he was fit as a fiddle and in no need of a mobility aid. I tried to explain the benefits, but he had this image in his head of a frail old man unable to do anything.

Eventually, I decided the only way to convince him was to take the bull by the horns and call in some experts to talk to him about the options available. I looked on the internet for a local company and found 1st Choice Stairlifts. When I spoke to them they immediately understood the situation and offered to visit my dad to put his mind at rest.

The man who came to see dad was wonderful, they hit it off straightaway. Rather than trying to be pushy, the representative just had a chat to dad about the old days, cricket and grandchildren. I’m not sure how he did it, but very soon it was dad who wanted a stairlift – he even claimed that he’d wanted one all along! I think it was really a case of letting dad make the decision himself, rather than feel he was being forced to. Anyway, it worked, dad is much happier – none more so than when I take the children round so he can show his ‘stairlift-off’ and race them upstairs to get to his train set first.!

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