Now that we are three and a half years into being parents of a child with extra needs, medical procedures are a normal part of our daily routine. At first, however, they seemed overwhelming. Many things contributed to moving these medical tasks from the “OMG how am I ever going to do this?” column to the “It’s just another part of our day” column, but it took time. It often felt like I needed 3 or 4 hands!
With experience, however, I figured out techniques such as, “if I hold the catheter like this between my thumb and middle finger while cupping the receptacle in my palm, then I don’t need a third hand!” I also learned a “hack” that allows me to keep antiseptic wipes clean and sterile, while at the same time having them open and ready when I need them.
The “hack” I’m referring to is tearing and folding the wipe package in such a way that it creates a little stand for the wipe. Standing the wipe up lets me grab the wipe when I’m ready without having to touch the dirty outside of the package with my clean gloved hands. It also ensures that the only thing the wipe itself touches is the sterile inside of the package, my gloves, and the area I wish to clean.
How to create a stand for your wipe by tearing and folding the package
Step 1: Get your wipe. We use BZK Antiseptic wipes, but this hack works with any square packaged wipe (similar to the one below).
Step 2: Tear the package along one edge. Stop tearing just before you get to the other end of the package.
Step 3: At the opening (where you started your first tear), grab the edge of the package with your fingertips and tear diagonally from the top left to the bottom right. Note: It is possible to do this without touching the wipe, but you have to be delicate and deliberate with how you grab the edge of the package.
Step 4: Fold the two torn pieces back to create your stand.
Step 5: Set the wipe down and it will stand up on it’s own!
What other medical supply hacks have you used?
Hi, I have incontinence issues and wear a brief both day and night. Nights have always been hard for me, because when I woke up in the morning, the contents of my brief would always spill onto my sheets and my care staff would be constantly wet the next morning. Finally a social worker showed us. “You slit them.” So that’s what we did. In order to double up on whatever undergarment you need to slit the bottom to allow any liquid to be soaked up by both pads. I do this for my day brief with a liner (slit the bottom), and its worked wonders!