When Someone's Coming Home From the Hospital

A lot of the calls grab bar installers get sound the same. My mother is coming home from the hospital on Thursday. The house isn't ready. What can you do?

It's one of the most common reasons families reach out, and one of the most stressful. A hip replacement, a stroke, a fall that turned into a week in the hospital — whatever brought the person there, the discharge date sneaks up, and suddenly there's a list of things to handle in a window that feels too short.

This piece is for the family in that situation. What to do, what to prioritize, and how to think about the bathroom in particular, which is where most post-discharge falls happen.

If you have more than a week

If you're reading this before the discharge — because the surgery is scheduled, or because the hospital has given you a date — you have time to do this properly. Use it.

Walk through your loved one's home with fresh eyes. Pay particular attention to three places: the bathroom, the path between the bedroom and the bathroom, and the front entrance. These are the three highest-risk zones in the first few weeks after discharge.

Start in the bathroom. This is where most discharge-period falls happen, and it's where you'll want to focus the most attention. You're looking at three things: how your loved one will enter and exit the shower or tub, how they'll keep their balance once they're inside it, and how they'll sit down on and stand up from the toilet. Each of those moments is a fall risk, and each of them has a grab bar solution. Many homes need a bar at the toilet, a bar where the person enters and exits the shower, and a bar on the back wall inside the shower for balance. Not every home needs all three, but most need at least one — and the installer can help you figure out which ones matter for your situation.

Next, the hallway. Clear the paths between the bedroom and the bathroom. Remove rugs that could catch a walker or a cane. Add a night light or two — the trip to the bathroom at 3 a.m. is when many post-discharge falls happen, and the dark hallway is part of the reason. If the route involves any stairs, check the handrail and make sure it's secure.

Finally, the entrance. The steps from the car or curb into the house are the first physical challenge your loved one will face on the way home. Is there a handrail? Is the lighting adequate at night? Is there a clear path for someone who may be using a walker or cane for the first time? These are the entry-level changes that prevent a fall on day one.

Call a professional grab bar installer. Tell them the discharge date. Most will prioritize a discharge job if they can — it's the kind of work they understand and want to do well. If you don't already know who to call, the GBIAA matching service connects families with trained installers in their area at no cost — tell us about the situation and we'll point you to someone qualified to handle a discharge timeline.

If you have a few days

This is the most common situation. The discharge is closer than you'd like, and you're scrambling.

Start with the bathroom. If you're going to do one thing, do this. The bathroom is the highest-risk room in any home, and it's especially dangerous in the weeks after a hospital stay. Wet surfaces, low-light early-morning trips, weakened balance, and the act of transferring on and off the toilet or in and out of the shower — every one of those is a fall risk.

Call a professional installer immediately. Be direct about your timeline. Ask if they can come this week. If they can, they'll usually quote you over the phone or via a photo of the bathroom, get the right hardware ordered, and schedule the install for the day before discharge or the day of. If you don't have an installer already, the GBIAA matching service is the fastest way to find one — we'll connect you with a trained installer in your area who can take a discharge call.

If the first installer can't make it, call another. A good installer who can't fit you in will often refer you to a colleague who can. The grab bar community is small enough that referrals flow easily between professionals who know each other.

While you're waiting: rent or buy temporary equipment that doesn't require an install. A shower chair or tub bench lets your loved one sit while bathing. A raised toilet seat with arms makes sitting down and standing up easier. A freestanding floor-to-ceiling support pole goes between the floor and ceiling — no anchoring, no wall, just tension — and provides something to grip near the bed or beside the toilet. A tub clamp bar grips the edge of the tub to give a handhold for entering and exiting. None of these replaces a properly installed grab bar, but each can bridge the gap between discharge day and the day the professional install happens.

If you have less than 48 hours

You're in the crunch. The discharge is imminent, no professional installer can get there in time, and you have to make decisions today.

Do what you can with temporary assistive equipment. Buy or rent everything mentioned above: shower chair or tub bench, raised toilet seat with arms, freestanding floor-to-ceiling support pole, tub clamp bar. These are available at most medical supply stores, some pharmacies, and online. Together, they can make a bathroom much safer for the first few days at home, without anyone drilling into a wall.

For the path between the bedroom and the bathroom, clear the floor of rugs and clutter and add a night light. If there are stairs and no handrail, a temporary clamp-on stair rail is available from medical supply retailers — not a long-term solution, but a real help in a crunch.

Then, as soon as a professional installer can get there, schedule the proper installation. The temporary equipment will help reduce risk during the immediate window, but it isn't a replacement for permanent grab bars. The sooner the real install happens, the better. Aim for days, not weeks.

What to tell the installer when you call

The phone call goes faster if you have a few things ready.

Who the bars are for. Their height, approximate weight, what mobility issue they're dealing with. The installer needs this to recommend the right bars and the right placement.

The discharge date and the specific timeline. Be specific. A good installer will tell you whether they can meet it, and if not, point you toward someone who can.

The bathroom. A photo is worth ten minutes of description. Most installers will ask for one anyway, and having it ready will let them give you a meaningful quote on the call.

Any obvious wall complications. Tile? Plaster? An older house? Don't worry about getting the technical details right — just tell them what you see, and the installer will know what questions to ask next.

What not to do in the rush

Two things to be careful about, both common in discharge scrambles.

Don't buy a grab bar online thinking you'll save the installer some time. A professional will install the bar they bring, not the one you bought. The cheap bars sold online often aren't suitable for what they're being asked to do, and the hardware that comes in the box is rarely adequate. Save yourself the return.

Don't buy a suction-cup grab bar at all. Not as a stopgap, not as a positioning aid, not for any purpose. They are not safety equipment. They will not hold under load, they can release without warning, and they're sold as grab bars but they aren't grab bars in any meaningful sense. If you see one in the bathroom already, take it down before your loved one comes home. They have no place in a home where a fall is a real risk.

The bigger picture

A hospital discharge is often the first time a family realizes how unsuited the family home is for someone whose abilities have changed. It's a moment that catches a lot of people by surprise — the same house that worked fine a month ago is suddenly full of risks.

The good news is that most of those risks are addressable, often within a few hundred dollars and a few hours of professional work. A bar in the right place, a handrail where there wasn't one, a few small changes that let the home work for the person who's coming back to it. Done right, those changes don't just get the family through the first few weeks. They make the home safer for years.

We'll help you find the right installer.

If you're navigating a discharge timeline, tell us about the situation and we'll connect you with a trained installer in your area who can prioritize your timeline — your location, your needs, and someone qualified to do this right.

Get Matched →

— Greg Cantori
Co-Founder & CEO, Grab Bar Installers Association of America