Wheelchair Skills 101

OK, you just sold your favorite customer your favorite chair. It is the coolest thing on wheels. It is lightweight, narrow enough to get through doors, the seating and positioning are perfect, you even got the insurance company to fund it, and they have already paid. Your customer is happy. You are happy. Everything is perfect, right?

What if your customer doesn't know how to use the chair?

New wheelchair users face a large number of barriers with their new lifestyle. Your job is to help eliminate as many of those as possible. The first step is to provide the most appropriate mobility equipment. The second step is to educate them on how to use that equipment safely. Our industry does a good job at pointing out features and reminding people to use their safety (positioning) belt and anti-tippers. But who is in charge of teaching people how to pop a wheelie?

A charity in the UK recently sponsored a wheelchair users course to educate young wheelchair users on how to use their chairs. The course covered everything from balancing on the rear wheels, climbing and descending curbs, and even demonstrated going down and up stairs for the very brave.

Why should you hold your own wheelchair users course?

• This is information and skills that every new wheelchair user needs
• You want to be the company that everybody thinks of when they need wheelchair information
• Get more wheelchairs and wheelchair users in and around your store on a Saturday than you ever thought possible.

What do you need to get your event started?

• Find your experts.
  
• Invite PT's, OT's and others who work with out-patient wheelchair therapy
• Invite your local wheelchair sports team (basketball, rugby, curling, etc)
• Pick your date, about 3 months in advance (make sure you will have a reasonable chance at good weather, spring/summer)
• Invite your customers, and your competitors customers, and their friends and families
  
• Fliers in the store, website, newsletter, statement mailing
• Contact your local newspapers and TV stations
• Invite the reporters to attend and cover the event
• Make sure your course is laid out in stations so people can find the skills that are most interesting to them.
• Have lots of loaners and sample chairs on hand for people to borrow, check out, and buy.
  
• Be prepared to do it again!

Let us know if you have done something similar. If you decide to plan a course, let us know so we can promote your event on RehabHacker.com!

Get A Free Education

OK, so you may not end up with a diploma, but some universities are offering free access to online courses now. Most notable is MIT with over 1800 courses available for free and Stanford, who offers their courses as audio files via iTunesU. There are a wide variety of topics available including a graduate course on Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries.

A comprehensive list of schools offering the courses is available here. While the University of Pittsburgh is not on the list with classes specific to the rehab industry, there are enough classes about business management, health, science, and biology to keep anybody busy with courses related to the work we do.

I'm planning on integrating some of these courses into our in-house continuing training program. How will you take advantage of a free education?