What would you do?

Here's a tale that seems to be all to familiar to those of us in the rehab industry. It is told by a cab driver who is sent to pick up a 'Lil' Ol' Lady' from the hospital. The poor woman is non-ambulatory and should be sent home in van transportation, but the cab ride was cheaper. This puts the cabbie in an awkward situation:

"Look, lil' ol' lady," I told the Lil' Ol' Lady, "the only way I can get you into this car is to pick you up and put you in it." We were not supposed to do this, because of our insurance. Imagine if I had dropped her and she had ended up not with a bruised hip but a broken one. Worse, imagine if she had croaked.

Have you ever been in a similar situation? When you get to an appointment and realize there is nobody there to help make transfers in and out of a chair or bed, what do you do?

Know When To Fold 'Em

I recently received an email from Invacare announcing their new folding 3-in-1 commode. Drive Medical has had their version available for quite a while now. We have use the Drive product ever since our rep told us about it. From the pictures, it looks like the Invacare product is similar to the Drive product.

Why is a folding commode important?

• Keep all the parts to the commode in one place. Never get to a house or hospital again only to find that the splash guard is missing.
• Portability for the customer. The product folds easy enough that the users can take it with them when they travel. Makes any hotel room or family member's house that much more accessible.
• Easy to store in the warehouse and on the retail floor.
• Can be shipped via UPS/FedEx.
  

The folding commode only handles 250lbs where the non-folding version will usually handle 300lbs, so be careful who this product is recommended for. The folding commode does cost a couple bucks more than a regular commode, but we have decided that the benefits outweigh the price difference and have converted most of our commode stock to the Drive folding product.

Become a Grab Bar Guru [How To]

Grab bars can add a lot of safety and security to the bathroom environment. Nearly all DME retail outlets sell them. I even saw some at Albertson's today while I was shopping for groceries. But a grab bar in a box is not worth as much as a grab bar securely attached to a wall.

If you currently sell grab bars but do not offer installation services, set yourself and your company apart by adding a needed service. There may not be a huge profit margin in the grab bars, but the installation is fairly simple and labor is always good for the bottom line. This is also a chance to get into a clients home to perform a full home evaluation and find new ways you can help your client improve safety and independence at home.

Click through the slide show to get a step by step illustration of just how easy it can be to add a new service to your product line. The slide show can also be viewed as a full screen presentation for training your technicians before tackling the next job.

The Future of ADL's is Now?

PostlerFerguson is a design firm that researches new ways to interface technology, culture, economics, and people. They have come up with new ways to interact with music, use of artificial intelligence during disaster recovery, and even designed a 3D paper based model of an AK-47 machine gun. They have also looked into the relationship between robots and the aging population with a line of prototypes called Life Machines.

"Life Machines engages with the question of how an aging population's needs can be met through technology. It investigates a possible future society in which humans and robots coexist in domestic spaces and asks what issues arise in a symbiotic relationship between humans and technology. Questions about what kind of compromises and adjustments will have to be made are explored through scenarios of everyday routines in the relationship of an aging individual and a robot. The design of domestic objects that reflect the needs of both machines and humans becomes a tool for exploring the human condition and our fascination with using technology to recreate ourselves."

I like the concept of investigating the issues between technology and human interaction. I'm especially happy to see that they mention exploring the compromises and adjustments that would have to be made. While there may be a need at a point in the future for a robot to shave a person's face, that need may be weighed against the level of comfort and dignity involved in having a robot shave your face. And from what I have seen so far, the average quadriplegic may be more willing to ask a stranger on the side of the road to swab the inside of an ear before strapping into this contraption.

Technology and Aids to Daily Living are a natural combination that may be too easy to take too far. What types of gadgets do you and your clients hope to see in the future?

The Pinnacle of Touchless Potty Technology

This is a product that I wish I knew about 4 months ago. We got a job to modify an apartment for a client with RSD who was unable to touch anything with his hands because of the uncontrollable pain. We made a lot of modifications that allowed him to use his elbows, feet, and other body parts to control his environment, but I sure wish we had access to the iTouchless Sensor Flush.

The Sensor Flush adds IR technology to any toilet with a handle on the front. Since it runs for three years or 23,000 flushes on 4 'C' batteries or can be flushed manually with the handle, your clients will never be left 'hanging.'

We did use the iTouchless Faucet Adaptor on our hands free apartment mod and can vouch that iTouchless produces at least one quality product. Hopefully their other products work just as well.

The Sensor Flush normally runs about $200 but has an introductory special of $100.