The Night Drawer Gets Set in Order: Empty It, Stock It Without Medicine, Test the Reach, Then Check It Each Month

The night drawer is a small job with a clear order. Work through it once in daylight, then test it in the dark. Most of the time goes into the testing, not the installing.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Step one: empty and check the drawer

Take everything out. Wipe the inside and check that the drawer slides open and closed without catching. Check that it opens without hitting the bed frame, a chair, or the wall. If the drawer opens across her path, move the bed or the drawer before you go further. A drawer that blocks the way is a hazard, not a storage spot.

Step two: choose what goes in

Keep the drawer for things she reaches for on the trip from the bed: her glasses in a case, a flashlight with fresh batteries, tissues, and a small cloth. Leave medicine out of this drawer. How and where medicine is kept is a decision for her physician and her pharmacist, not something to organize at the bedside.

Step three: place by reach

Put the item she uses most nearest the front, at a height she can reach while seated on the edge of the bed. Put the flashlight where her hand will land first. Avoid stacking items so that finding one means moving another.

Step four: test it in the dark

Turn off the room light. Sit on the edge of the bed and open the drawer with one hand. Find the flashlight, turn it on, and close the drawer. Do this three times. If you have to search, move the item that gave you trouble and test again.

Step five: name who checks it

Write down who checks the batteries, who restocks the tissues, and who looks at the drawer when the layout changes. Put a date on the check sheet each month so the job does not depend on memory.

If she stops using the drawer, or she has trouble getting up from the bed to reach it, bring that to her physician rather than adjusting the drawer alone. For local help with the rest of the route, see Local help after a fall, St. Louis. For the general points on bedside set-up, see Sources.