Electric wheelchair tips- HELP

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thistlegal

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Joined
Nov 21, 2010
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26
Diagnosis
05/2010
Country
CA
State
Ontario
City
Guelph
Danny is going to be trying out some electric wheelchairs. Does anyone have any preferences or things that have been a huge help that we should be looking for. Right now a tilt is a must. What about hand controls....has anyone tired the different types?
 
the PWC my PALS uses has a joystick that you control everything with. The back tilts, the legs go up and down. and the whole thing can be tilted. his works great indoors and out- but is fairly large mainly because of his older model vent that rides on the back.
He will also need a decent head rest so if his neck muscles weaken, you can just tilt him back a bit to keep his head upright.
There are alot of models out there. Im sure someone with more specific info will chime in.
Good luck
 
Make sure you get all the elevate features. In my case the elevate feature was crucial as I am 5'4 and my hubby is 6ft...we ended up with a Per Mobile street (donated) that goes really high..huge lifesaver with transfers! Make sure that your chair has car tie downs. Our first one did not have them and it was a real pain in the neck. Also, I wish we had the attendant control for those days that we need to go a little speedier. You will want a special cushion for the chair as well. We did not have great luck with our Invacare TDX...but I believe they have a newer model. Seems to me that Per Mobile is the way to go. Good luck..this is an important decision for your PALS!
 
If you use the search feature and put in wheelchair, power chair, power wheel chair etc you should find lots.

AL.
 
Thanks for all your pointers. Since this will be the last wheelchair we purchase I just want to make sure we have all our bases covered, as to what features you( the experts) have found the most benificial.
 
We have a permobile 300. My husband is 200 lbs, we should have gotten the 400, but thats another story. The vendor will most likely try to sell you what makes the most money for him(or her) not necessarily what is right for you.
 
I did quite a bit of research for mine and concluded that the permobile C300 is probably the most reliable. As Kelly said, get the elevator seat it make life much easier. Also get a Roho seat cushion.
 
Jim, if I were doing this over again (whew, awful thought!), I'd want exactly the same choices as yours.
 
Please let us know your final decisions on the purchase.

Thanks.

- Jerry
 
The turning radius of the chair and the dimensions of the chair can be critical.. And they are not necessarily directly related - depending on how the chair drives (front wheel vs mid vs rear) sometimes a smaller chair can have a larger turning radius. Not good! Hal thought about getting a PerMobile 500 for some of its extra features - BUT not only is it much more expensive than the C300 - it also has a larger turning radius, and is a larger chair in general. The C300 just barely can maneuver in our wheelchair van, and just squeezes through some of our doorways. We were lucky enough to get a vendor who brought a C500 to our home, so we could tell it would not work for us. We ended up with the C300, and are relatively happy with it. The elevating feature is a must, though - to save the Caregiver's back - even though insurance and Medicare will not cover that feature.
 
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