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The human mind is just amazing. Even more so when coupled with technology that can exponentially increase function and personal independence. The Brain Science Institute (BSI) — Toyota Collaboration Center claims to have developed an innovative new technology that allows a powered wheelchair user to control a wheelchair. This mind over wheelchair controller analyzes brainwaves every 125 milliseconds to provide steady input and consistent and accurate control. |
Toyota states the following:
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Owning a powered wheelchair should not become a nightmare yet for many wheelchair users it becomes just that. Here is yet another email we received. This one is from a women in Nevada who is trying to get her brother mobilized in a reasonable time and in some sane manner. This quite common scenario speaks for itself but says little about the concern some wheelchair dealers have for their clients.
The upshot- Of course we referred this women to the wheelchair manufacturer for assistance in locating a cooperative wheelchair repair company. Solving this problem may be as easy as hooking up a programmer to the wheelchair and adjusting the top-end speed. Or it may, like it has for many other wheelchair users, remain a nightmare. There are several reasons for the repair dodge. The first is the low dollar pay-out rate by funders like Medicare and Medicaid for repairs. Many dealers claim that there are no real bucks in funded repairs. The other killer scenario is warranty work. If warranty work is involved some dealers try to dodge the warranty bullet. Why? Because manufacturers do not pay for the labor involved in making a repair under warranty. They will replace warrantied parts that go bad but they will not dole out the labor dollars. The general rule is- he who sells it bites the bullet on warranty work. Not fair at all to the dealer who can see his profits vaporize over a couple of hot repairs. Less fair to the wheelchair user who has few alternatives. Getting warranty work by a dealer other than the one that sold the wheelchair seldom works out since that dealer made no profit on the sale of the wheelchair to begin with and warranty labor is not reimbursed. It’s a total loss at that point and good Samaritans are about as hard to find in this industry as Santa Clause in August. Unfair to say the least. Destructive and contrary to the core purpose of having a wheelchair? Absolutely! It’s an age old industry practice that has been going on forever and there doesn’t seem to be a solution in sight. Yet many powered wheelchair users are caught up in this mess. Either out of pocket or funded they have managed to obtain a much needed wheelchair, but there it sits for lack of repair. Just one big expensive nightmare. This is murderball Carolinas style.
The Carolina Crash is a competitive team that travels throughout the southeast United States from September to March competing in competitive tournament play and post-season play. They are presently recruiting players for their upcoming season. This is a great opportunity for hardcore quads in either North or South Carolina who are interested in getting involved in one of the most exciting wheelchair sports, Quad Rugby. You can find details on their website:
I think that of all of these devices standing frame justification is the least understood by people with disabilities, their caregivers, and by clinicians. Altimate Medical has just released a pretty good funding guide for such devices. If you plan to approach your funder for a stander then you need to check this out first.
Check out the funding guide at: http://www.easystand.com/funding/index.cfm An interesting face off is developing in a Vancouver public park. The issue boils down to going easy on Rover’s paws or going easy on wheelchair users.
It appears that loose pea gravel does not rank up there on surfaces that are easy for a manual wheelchair, powered wheelchair, or mobility scooter to negotiate. It’s probably not a first choice surface for people who use canes, walkers, and rollators either. To top off the problem, park officials had yet another layer of pea gravel added to the existing pile. Cheryl Caves, a wheelchair user, and a number of other wheelchair users are now at loss. While their pet dogs are enjoying a comfortized dump, the wheelchair using dog owners can not even get into the area to manage their dogs or take care of the obligatory poo scooping. Caves voiced her complaints to Vision Park board commissioner Aaron Jasper. Jasper said he asked staff about a week ago to inspect the park, and he responded with these prophetic words:
It seems that both dog walkers and park officials share some common ground- Scooping. He also said that a packed path through the park sounded like a good idea. Read the story at The Vancouver Courier. A message from the Mesothelioma & Asbestos Awareness Center.
Rules, regulations, gatekeepers and conserving resources seem to be the guide on the road to obtaining a funded power wheelchair these days. Like most roads the potholes are numerous and deep. Aside from those who believe that funders (Medicare, Medicaid, insurers) have overly restrictive criteria for obtaining a wheelchair, there is a large number of people who support the existing dollar based solutions. A recent article fueled by the demise of giant Johnson & Johonson’s iBot wheelchair went on to touch on this issue. Some of the comments from that article are found below:
Dr. Bonninger is an old friend who has spent most of his professional years advancing wheelchair technology and applying these technologies into the mainstream. He puts it on the money with “The wheelchair is maybe the most enabling technology in medicine, period.” I, like Dr. Bonninger, believe this to be true and believe that the measuring stick used in determining who shall receive a funded wheelchair should not have dollar increments marked on it. Rather it should be marked with the benefits realized to the individual user, to the community and society, and lastly to the keepers of the public bankroll. If it’s good for people and our society then it’s a good thing to do regardless of cost. Read the article at: After many years of testing robotic therapy for stroke patients, MIT engineers are now looking at how this same technology may benefit people with cerebral palsy.
Developers started with stroke patients, and then started looking at other areas where people might benefit. These included cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injury. The concept is the same in all of these cases- That using robots to gently guide the limb while patients try to perform certain functions would help to rebuild function. Strange, isn’t that what therapists used to do? Do they still do that? If so, why the robots? OK, I’m not going to argue with the MIT gang. Robotics is very much in with the academic crowd these days so I’ll just go with the intellectual flow. You can read the entire article at: |
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The Carolina Crash is a wheelchair/quad rugby team for men and women and is the only Western NC team serving players from both North and South Carolina. It is one of only two programs in the state. The Crash is a 100% volunteer run 501 (C) (3) organization and a member of the United States Quad Rugby Association.
We all know how important supplying full and pertinent information is when requesting funding for a medical device, wheelchair or standing frame. It can make or break you regardless of the obvious clinical needs.
It seems that Vision Park in Vancouver had certain areas where doggies could do their doo covered with pea gravel to cushion the paws of canines while they were doing what they do. This accommodation seemed to please pawed facility users but left wheelchair users who walk their dogs there at a loss. A loss of access anyway.