From: livesey@u.washington.edu (John Livesey)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Roll-Aid
Date: 14 Oct 92 04:42:22 GMT
Reply-To: livesey@u.washington.edu (John Livesey)
Organization: Olivetti AFD
X-Fidonet: Spinal Injury Conference
Originator: wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com

Index Number: 24935

<I'd love to do that fancy "quoting", but my mailer doesn't know how>

In reference to a reply in HD#2967 which quoted a request from John
Lynch of 29 Sept (I missed the original):

"Any one have or know about a product called Roll-Aid what allows
you to add a tempory motor unit under your chair, and remove it
in 10 sec.  Vidio sounds great, but Stand-Aid of Iowa only sells
direct and the people who have them in the Baltimore area will
not contact me.  All info greatly appreciated."

My wife has had one of these devices for about 2 months now.  She
loves it for what it does for her.  Her situtation first and how
the device helps:  Doreen has chronic progressive Multiple
Sclerosis and has been full-time in a wheelchair for about 15
months.  She has a Kushall ultralight chair for around the house
but kept her old E&J 9000 when getting the new Kushall.  The E&J is
perfect for adapting to the Roll-aid, which she uses for 'distance'
jaunts.

The Roll-aid really does attach in about 30 seconds and detaches in
about 10 sec.  It's rather heavy (I heard her say 85 lbs; I think
it's closer to 50).  Whatever the weight, it's too heavy for her to
lift by herself, even if she dismantled it.  The unit fits under a
wheelchair by attaching to a bar inserted between the horizontal
tubes of her folding wheelchair.  The mounting brackets are
installed semi-permanently onto the ends of the frame tubing.  Then
this "lift bar" is dropped into sockets and provides a point of
attachment for the rear hooks of the Roll-aid.

The device is powered by two 12-volt batteries (sealed lead-acid, I
believe).  Steering is by a tiller mechanism in the front of the
device, which is mechanically linked to the drive wheel in the
front.  When installed, the front of the wheelchair is lifted off
the ground, transforming the four-wheel chair into the functional
equivalent of a three-wheel scooter.  The controls on the tiller
include an on-off key (looks like an RCA phono jack plug), speed
control (top speed is rated at 4 miles/hr), and forward and reverse
levers operated by pushing in opposite directions.  The fact that
the front of the wheelchair is lifted off the ground is initially
disconcerting, but you rapidly become accustomed to it (only about
3/4 - 1 inch off the ground).  A side benefit is that unlike
conventional 3-wheel scooters which can tip fairly easily, the
(unused) front wheels of the wheelchair act like stabilizers - if
you start to tip, they will contact the ground and help keep you
upright.  The tiller is easily removed (and must be removed to
transfer into the chair with the device attached), but this is
also a "hidden" advantage - ever been in a restaurant and
can't get close enought to the table?  - just remove the tiller and
you can manually roll up close to the table.

We took this on vacation this year - Doreen went on hiking trails
and all over Victoria BC with much less fatigue than before (on her
part and mine!).  I can walk fast again and she has regained
control of where to go and how to get there.  As her fatigue has
increased and upper-body strength declined, I was doing more
pushing.  Now we can stroll side-by-side again at a fairly rapid
clip.  I remarked to my in-laws the other day, "ever since my wife
got 'electrified', I lose her all the time!"

Our only beef is the weight (no arguing there; batteries are heavy)
and the fact that it's a tad difficult to align the chair and the
Roll-aid when you're sitting in the chair.  It usually takes a few
tries to get it centered correctly, unless a second person is
guiding you... (a little to the left, honey... :-) ).

The Stand-Aid folks have been great.  They sold it to us on 30 day
approval (we're still waiting for our insurance company to make up
their mind about paying for it :-( ).  We've called them repeatedly
to get it customized to Doreen's chair and limitations.  For
example, the "standard" installation resulted in the tiller being
about 4" out in front of the arm-rests of the chair, meaning that
Doreen rapidly fatigued holding her arms out in front to steer.
Their service guy fabricated "extensions" for the horizontal tubes
to which the device attaches at the bottom of the chair, resulting
in the tiller being just (1/2") in front of the seat - now she can
steer with her arms on the armrests.  They've made us a new handle,
a new lift-bar support (a spot weld gave way after a week of
bouncing around on hiking trails and bumping up bad curb-cuts), and
were ready to make a whole new tiller before this other
customization worked.  Super service for a direct sales company,
but then they have Mr. Fix-it (me) helping.   (<- tongue firmly in
cheek on that one; I'm 'handiest' with the phone to call
a repairman most times!).

The other device that competes in this category was mentioned here
before (Damaco?) - but I believe it does not detach from the chair
and is basically a permanent conversion.

Feel free to e-mail me with questions.  I'm just a satisfied
customer; as far as I know Stand-Aid is a private company, but I
_would_ buy their stock if they were publicly traded!.

(sorry about the length of this posting)

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John Livesey
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livesey@u.washington.edu (internet)
livesey@max              (bitnet)
75540,3454               (compuserve, but not checked regularly)
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