Most Women in Assisted Living Stop Wearing a Bra Within a Year Because They Can't Reach the Clasp. One Home Switched Its Residents to a Pull-On Tank.

Staff say the hook behind the back is the first part of getting dressed that residents lose. What happened when one Ohio residence took the clasp out of the morning altogether.

Dayton, Ohio — At 7:15 every morning, Rosa Alvarez starts her dressing rounds. She is a care aide at a 64-apartment assisted-living residence outside Dayton, which asked not to be named, and she has done the same rounds for 11 years. Knock, wait, say good morning, help with whatever the resident can't manage that day.

For most of those years, one job came up more than any other with the women on her floor. It wasn't buttons or shoes. It was the bra clasp.

"They can do almost everything else themselves," Alvarez said. "But they can't get both hands behind their back to find those little hooks. So they wait for me, or they stop wearing one."

Why the Bra Clasp Is the First Thing Residents Can't Do

Fastening a bra at the back asks more of the body than almost anything else in a morning routine. Both arms have to rotate inward and lift behind the back at the same time. That movement, reaching up between the shoulder blades, is one of the first that stiff shoulders and worn rotator cuffs give up.

Then the fingers have to line up hooks about a quarter of an inch wide without being able to see them. With arthritis in the knuckles, many women can't feel the hook catch at all.

And asking for help is harder than it sounds. "It's the most personal thing I help with," Alvarez said. "A lady who raised five kids and ran a household does not want somebody fastening her underwear. Most of them would rather go without."

What Families and Staff Tried Before

The residence had tried the usual fixes, one family at a time. None of them took the hard part out.

The Home Switched Residents to a Tank With the Bra Built In

Last spring a resident's daughter brought in a tank top with a bra built into it, and the staff asked if the family would order a few more for other women on the floor. Within a couple of months it had spread to most of the hallway.

It is called the Freeform Tank. It has no hooks, no clasp, no band and no wire. It goes on over the head like a T-shirt, in one movement, with the arms at about shoulder height. There is nothing to fasten and nothing to find behind the back.

The support comes from shaped cups sewn permanently into the lining. That mattered to the staff for a practical reason: residents' clothes go through the building's laundry, and the loose pads in ordinary "comfort" camisoles came back folded, twisted or missing. Sewn-in cups come back the same shape every time.

The straps are as wide as three fingers, so they stay on sloping shoulders, and the square neckline looks like an ordinary top. Residents wear it on its own or under a cardigan.

See the pull-on tank the residents switched to → check today's offer

Edith, 86, Dresses Herself Again

Edith Marsh moved into the residence two years ago after a fall. Her shoulders had stiffened for years before that, and by the time she arrived she couldn't reach behind her back at all.

"For two years someone had to come in and do my bra up, every single morning," she said. "I'd sit on the bed and wait. I was 84 years old and waiting for somebody to dress me."

Now she pulls the tank on over her head, straightens the straps and goes to her dresser to do her hair. "I'm downstairs before the coffee's out," she said. "I don't wait for anybody."

Her daughter, Diane Kowalski, ordered the first tanks from her kitchen table two states away. "I'd been buying Mom front-closing bras for two years and she never wore them. I didn't understand why until Rosa explained it was the clasp, not the bra."

Kowalski bought a five-pack so her mother has one for every weekday while the others are in the laundry. "Five tanks is a week for Mom," she said. "I put her name in every one."

"The biggest change isn't the clothes," Alvarez said. "It's the breakfast room. Women who used to eat in their rooms are coming down again, because they're dressed and they feel like themselves."

Ordering for a Parent: What Staff Tell Families

1. Order by the size she wears now. The size chart on the order page lists bra size and top size side by side, S to 3XL. If you only know her shirt size, use that. Between two sizes, take the larger one, because it goes on more easily.
2. Get enough for the laundry cycle. Most families order five, one for each weekday, so there is always a clean one in the drawer.
3. Ship it straight to her. Enter her address, including the apartment or room number, as the shipping address at checkout. US shipping is free.
4. Label every tank. Write her name on the inside label before it goes into the building's laundry.

See Today's Offer →Buy 3 Get 2 Free while stock lasts

Laura Bennett covers aging, caregiving and family health for The Daily Health Insider.