We had a Pride for my mother, also. Pride is one of the leading manufacturers, tho certainly not the only one. Her chair is fabric, so a pad was necessary. the pad also helps with shifting position while the person is sitting. My mother, also, was fearful of being raised up in the chair. One caution----take care that the control is not in the chair beside the person. Pressure on the switch can cause it to lift when you are out of the room...dangerous in my mother's case. Medicare will reimburse for the cost of the motor IF the person can walk unassisted once he/she is on her feet. If he needs assistance of another person to walk, they will not reimburse. If you get the model that reclines (almost all the way back), it will be easier to change depends, etc without transferring back to the bed. Also allows napping on the side. Our chair was well worth the $$. DerryW

I can tell you which brand not to buy. Do not buy Acorn, bad lifts and bad service. I hear Summit may be good. Other things to consider are what each service call is going to run...average is about $250 per visit, but some companies now give a reduced rate with a maintenance plan.

we have a Golden power lift and recline chair. it's been in use for the last couple of years and it certainly serves its purpose and the young ones treat it like an amusement ride. the chair allows you to practically stand going forward and it doesn't allow your feet above your heart going backwards (as it should be). there's no specific settings, you do the controlling. there's a little clip on the side that holds the controller in a good spot for easy access. took me a while to discover that (duh!) there's a little pocket for the remote or whatever. it's quite comfortable. the purchase was from an excellent pharmacy that has a line of durable medical equipment that surpasses anything else i've ever seen. i just looked and golden has a website and the you can plug in a zip code and find a dealer nearby. best of luck to you and your dad, maryanne

I just thought I would update. I'm at about 90% improvement so that's great. But this has been the longest recovery to date and that worries me. I'm still very stiff and sore and walking is difficult, but at least most of the pain has subsided. It's mostly side/hip muscles so I assume they were strained a bit to compensate for my inflamed spinal muscles last week. I have physical therapy scheduled for Wednesday and an MRI for Friday. I'm excited to finally get a real diagnosis and start strengthening my back so hopefully this won't happen again. Regarding the chair, it's been wonderful. I expect it's made my recovery a bit longer as I haven't been walking as much but it's been more comfortable. I don't need the lift assist anymore but I still sleep in it at night. I tried to sleep in my bed on Friday night but the pain came back. I think I need to accept that my preferred plush mattresses are bad for my back. I'm looking into buying a firmer one. Thanks for everyone's suggestions and input!