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Friday, July 13, 2007

How to get equipment in your car: one idea

I've been writing on here about my adventures in getting mobilized due to a bilateral shoulder injury. One of the issues I've run into is that I cannot push a manual chair when I go out and the power equpment just won't fit in my compact car, which I usually use with a manual wheelchair.

I recently got a travel scooter I can take with me . Although they are made to be taken apart, due to my poor dexterity that won't work well for me.

Since I have a Saturn Ion which has doors that open up like a cockpit, I wanted a way to get the scooter in my back seat, instead of using a lift in my trunk.


I looked at scooter ramps but then a friend of mine suggested I get a dog/pet ramp. Since I won't be riding up on the scooter, this is a feasible idea. I discovered that they would hold the weight of the scooter and many sizes were available and the best part is that they cost much less than a medical ramp.


The scooter I bought has a seat that comes off and it can go into freewheel so I'm hoping to break it down a bit and then back it into the car on the ramp.(Also I want to point out that I had to work with my OT to develop a safe technique to get the seat off without causing injury so please check with your health care provider before you attempt any of this yourself. Everyone's injury is different and I strap myself in.)

If so, I can use my car for more than drive throughs! Wish me luck....

[visual description: A woman is shown sitting in a Saturn Ion with both doors open revealing the passenger compartment. She is pulling her disassembled wheelchair into the car. Her tires are already on the back seat.]
[visual description: A photo shows a portable dog ramp going down the side of a van. A dog is seated at the top of it.]

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

what is it costing you to get the controls adapted on the scooters? a lot?

Ruth said...

It would be a lot but a friend is doing it. We have to adapt it to use whatever dexterity I muster up. So I'm just getting parts and he's donating his time. Whew.

Anonymous said...

I went through this last year. It sucked. I couldn't use my usual methods to get around and wound up getting an accessible van. You might want to buy one of those instead of leaning out like that. Doesn't look safe to me.

Vans are only about 40,000 if you look around. In fact there's one place that only costs about 30 grand if you get one that's older. Not bad when you consider what you're getting which is freedom.

Anonymous said...

This looks feasible to me. Heck of a lot cheaper than financing a van. Good luck with it.