[VENT-L] Re: Experiences with w/c & vent
CloudSing(AT)aol.com
Sun, 5 Jul 1998 15:24:31 EDT
Dear Diane, My husband, Mark, has recently experienced a similar problem with
trying to configure an Invacare Action Arrow Storm power chair in such a way
that it will accommodate both a LaBac as well as a rack to hold E-cylinders.
We got the vendor to custom design a special bracket with a hinge on it so
that he would be able to independently swing the oxygen tanks around and
monitor & handle the regulators himself. We thought that he would then be able
to switch his own tubing & have three times as much time on the tanks without
requiring assistance. (Of course, the problem of getting the oxygen tubing
tangled & snaggled around & about the wheels & footrests of this chair has
still not been solved, especially when he is doing transfers back & forth
between his w/c & the driver's seat of the car! Alas...) Anyway, they rigged
up this rather clever arrangement where the tanks would be able to be accessed
by him AND the LaBac would be stable. Guess what. He couldn't go anywhere. He
was so "long" that it was just intolerably impractical. It goes without saying
that he couldn't get in & out of the bedroom, & the real crisis was in public
places like the shopping mall where he was a hazard to the general public &
small children, to say nothing of merchandise displays. I mean, no one is
supposed to have to drive around all the time, much less live, in a truck! So,
we reluctantly had the rack removed & went back to the old system of brackets
which mount directly on the back of the chair. The LaBac accommodates the two
E-cylinders just fine because Mark doesn't weigh very much. I, too, share your
frustration in this apparent problem of physics in trying to find a way to put
a big "thing" on the back of a power chair with a tilt back, but I regret that
we haven't figured it out yet. I look forward to suggestions others may have.
Nancy Stange