Useful Machines and stuff:
I have a number of assistive machines and goodies and stuff
to help me out. Most of this stuff was bought used, covered by
insurance, or given to me by family, so the cost is not great, but some
of it is fairly expensive. Bought brand spanking new, the goodies on
this page represent several thousand dollars worth, but you measure the
cost against what your mobility is worth! It is worth a great
deal to me, so you puts your money where your priorities are...
The Scooters:
Yes, I
ride
mobility scooters for some of my needs. Scooters are wonderful
things for folks like me, and allow me to do things
that I normally would not be able to do. They are electric, use
batteries similar
to car batteries, charge overnight, and have a range of several miles,
depending on terrain. The top speed is about 5 mph. These things are
available
in a staggering variety of models, from several manufacturers.
This is a Travel
Scooter, made by a company of the same
name. This is a really cool tool; the seat, seat support, and
battery pack unclamp and come off, and the frame folds down to a
compact unit that can be picked up like a suitcase and lifted into car
a back seat, trunk, or whatever. I generally keep it in the passenger
seat of my pickup, which makes me more-or-less independent: when
I get where I am going, I can lift the frame unit over me to the
ground, unfold it, put the other parts on, and ride away, all in about
two minutes. Cool. The range is about 5 miles on a charge. The
top speed is about 6 mph, which doesn't sound fast, but down the frozen
food aisle at Publix, it is pretty quick. [grin]
This one
is a "Celebrity" model, made by Pride
Mobility,
and is an
"indoor/outdoor" model, with larger tires and more power than the
lightweight,
so I can move around outdoors. It can also be disassembled, without
tools, and carried in the trunk of someone else's car, or a rental car.
It is a simple process, and takes no than 5 minutes, and little effort.
It can go right into a building, fits into elevators, and is very
quiet. We carry it, fully assembled, on a carrier on my wife's SUV, or
in the back of my pickup using a crane-type lift.
The Wheelchairs:
I use a wheelchair at work, simply because of the convenience,
and also at home whem I am "legless in Trussville" as my daughter says
(when I have my prosthetics off).
I also need to take a chair when traveling, most often, to move to, for
instance, the bathroom in a motel room. My wheelchairs are the
"hemi" variety, which has nothing to do with a large V8 engine, but
means that the seats are closer to the ground
than on a standard chair, which allows me to transfer around more
easily. My chairs are all old, but I
maintain them well, and they work well.
This
chair is an Everest & Jennings Traveler, and lives at work.
It has pneumatic
(air-filled) tires, and in it's day was a classy chair. I keep the arms
off, because they won't fit under a desk or conference table. The
crutch
holders are homemade from PVC pipe fittings. Old, but a good
chair. Aquired from an estate.
This
is an Invacare "Action Power 9000" powerchair. An impressive name for a
mediocre powerchair. This one also lives at work, and is helpful for
moving around the large building in which I work. From some points to
others in the building, it is a long roll in the manual chair.
Again, aquired from an estate.
Notes about crutches: If you ever find it necessary to use
crutches, go for FOREARM CRUTCHES, the kind that end on the forearm,
and have a collar that fits around the arm. They are shorter, lighter,
and easier to handle than the old "standard" type, and most people will
tend to use the standard type incorrectly, supporting their weight on
the underarm pads. This is VERY dangerous; the underarm is not a
weight-bearing structure, and using crutches this way can damage nerves
that run through the armpit, and can lead to PERMANENT paralysis of the
arms! Don't take the chance!
At
the house, I have a ramp leading from the front yard to the deck behind
the house, and thus to the back door. Otherwise, there is no way into
the house without using stairs. This is great stuff, and I should have
done it 20 years ago. It makes everything easier. Even bringing
groceries into the house used to involve going up stairs. On the back
porch lives a big plastic "red wagon" that can be used to haul stuff up
and down the ramp, and into the back door. Good stuff. The next
project will be to extend the sidewalk to the bottom of the ramp.
On
the back of my wife's SUV is this, an electric lift device that carries
the scooter or wheelchair around. Made by Harmar, this is called the
Auto-Lift. It does require a Class III frame-mounted hitch, as with the
weight of the lift and a big scooter, you're looking at over 300 pounds
hanging on that hitch!
In
my pickup, the scooters are "lifted" in and out of the back of the
truck by a little electric crane thing, powered from the truck's
electrical system. A very handy thing, that also helps me load
and unload all kinds of heavy crap.
Under
Construction - More to come...