The wheelchair alternative
- Thread starter karrie
- Start date
That is phenomenally cool!
It looks like something my mother could get some use out of although she's not paraplegic she can no longer stand or walk.
It looks like something my mother could get some use out of although she's not paraplegic she can no longer stand or walk.
She can still transfer, at this point, on her own but her disease has weakened her considerably. (MS) And often while transferring or bending forward even while in her chair will not be able to bring herself back up so she lowers herself to the floor. She doesn't fall per se but once she's down there she can't get up on her own and I can't get her up. We end up having to call the paramedics. (I do want to stress that she never injures herself).
So this being front loading and with the ability to sit/squat while being secured almost seems too perfect.
Thanks Karrie, I'm definitely going to look into this.
You might also want to call around to some hospitals, palliative care centres, and homes that work with brain injuries, etc., to find out if there's anywhere a care worker can take a crash course in lifting a patient. My sister is an occupational therapist and her lessons for our family made all the difference when my aunt was dying of cancer and had finally hit the point of not being able to lift herself.
No clue on cost but it seems to me that any motorizd wheelchair is bound to cost more but there are ways to pay for it, especially if it enables someone to work.
What struck me as a critical flaw though is the tire size... for Canada you'd need to, at the very least, put it on a Segway type platform. Even motorized scooters get stuck. Just last winter we had to pull over and pull an old man out of an intersection because the tires can't handle the snow.
Yes. I thought of the guy in "walking" mode, running on little more than castors. He'd be fine in the shopping mall but getting to the car
in Winter would pose some problems. I'm nit-picking here because this system solves more problems than it creates.
I could easily see people even just having this system at home, and a wheel chair for getting around. It would free up so much around the house.
One thing. They showed him getting underway from bed. Could he get going after falling?. I have a brother who lost the use of his
legs from a stroke. He can get on his wheel chair from bed and he can get off it to use the bathroom and get back on it. Right now he can't get on it from the floor.