Assisted Living Clothing

Clothing Preparations for moving to assisted living facilities


(Go to our Home Page).  There are actually several features that you should look for in clothing for the elderly who live in assisted living facilities. First, the clothing should be made of comfortable fabric. Why comfortable? The skin of the elderly is often more fragile and will tear, scratch and bruise more easily so it is important that the fabric which is closest to the skin be soft to the touch. Often cotton and cotton/poly blends, brushed cottons, soft flannels and fleece are good fabrics to look for. Layering of clothing is also helpful to prevent skin tears, so look at coordinating outfits with sweaters, vests and fleece. Second, the clothing should be stylish, yet easy to wear and easy to launder. Why are these features important? Most of us, no matter our age, like to look good in the clothes we wear. Just because a living arrangement has changed, the way we choose to look has probably not changed. We want clothes to look good and we don't want to struggle to put clothes on. Avoid back zippers, short side zippers and small buttons. The assisted living facility may offer a laundry service for the residents. If they do offer this type of service, ask what kind of laundry it is. If the laundry is of the commercial type which would be similar to those in hospitals or nursing homes, clothing needs to be able to withstand the high temperatures of the washing and drying cycles that these laundries provide. Select clothing that is washable, doesn't require ironing and that will not shrink. All of the Buck and Buck designs meet these criteria. The third feature is that the clothing should promote independence in dressing. Buck and Buck clothing designs strive to foster independence in dressing for as long as possible through the use of pull on and over the head styles, easy to use zippers, snaps, buttons and VELCRO® brand (or hook and loop) closures when needed.

Often the elderly living in assisted living situations have medical conditions that have caused mild or severe disabilities which make the senior less independent and in need of the skills of a caregiver. The popular features in our adaptive assisted living clothing line of open back, side zip and cut away designs allow for ease in dressing and in providing personal care to the senior. The caregiver is able to dress the assisted living resident in our open back clothing while the senior lady or gentleman is still in bed or in a wheelchair. The side zip assisted living clothing may also be used this way because our bilateral zippers are 22 inches long which permit the caregiver to dress the senior while still lying in bed. Our cut away designs also make the dressing process easy and make toileting and personal care helpful to the senior and the caregiver.

We have developed our adaptive clothing designs through listening to the dressing problems and needs of our customers and through our own observations made in nursing homes and assisted living facilities that we serve.
Let our customer service representatives help you with any unique dressing problems that you are experiencing in either home care, nursing home, or assisted living situations.