My father is going to assisted living and I wanted to get him some clothes or any items to make it easier to give him care. He has trouble dressing himself. I am getting him tearaway pants, since he has issues going to the bathroom and wears adult diapers. I am sewing velcro in his long sleeve shirts so they are easier to fasten.
Are there any other items that would help like a certain style of undershirts; he gets cold easily but hates wearing clothes that are heavy? Many thanks!
A personal sound amplifier with corded earplugs may help. The handheld amplifier has larger and easier to handle buttons (compared to hearing aids) and the elder can put the earplugs in as they want. My father would pull the plugs out whenever he wanted a nap or a break from the general noise in his MC. It uses one AAA battery which is much easier to swap out than any set of hearing aid batteries.
My father liked a personal DVD player to watch old cowboy movies and listen to CDs of audible books and music. I used a permanent gold colored marker to initial the player and DVDs/CDs I left with my father so they were easy to identify as his.
I found small plastic storage boxes to be helpful too - from index card to shoe box sized. My father could put small items like chap stick, kleenex, or his DVDs in them to keep things neat and put the box in his lap to take stuff out. When he moved from bed to chair, he often took the small box with him. Make sure the lids are not too hard to get off. There are some "super stacker" boxes with lids that set on and have fold up latches on each end that work really well.
An led floor lamp with a flexible head and dimable light is great by the table or bed. The on/off switch is slightly lit when the lamp is off so it's easy to find it in the dark. It comes on at the last light level and holding the switch down cycles it from bright to dim.
The other tip for your father's being able to put on his own socks and shoes is a footstool or step that he can keep under his bed. It is amazing how much easier it is to put your shoe on if you can rest your foot just those 9-12 inches above the ground.
With clothes, I'd avoid adaptations that will stop things looking and feeling familiar to him. It's better to stick to the styles he's used to so that muscle memory can play its part in helping him.
I shouldn't bother with the tearaway pants (unless he has an awful lot of soiling accidents?), but do get him the kind of diapers that you tear open at the sides to remove - they're a godsend, and much more comfortable for the person as well.
If your father gets cold easily, perhaps some insulated underwear shirts would do. They're lightweight, stretchy and layer well under regular shirts.