Abstract:
A wheelchair having a detachable walker. The walker can be mechanically attached and detached from the wheelchair easily so that the user can safely rise from a sitting position on the wheelchair to a standing position assisted by the walker. During that transition, the user has the wheelchair attached to the walker in case the user falls backwardly or gets tired and wants to again be seated in the wheelchair. When the user has reached the standing position, the user can ambulate in a space intermediate the walker and the wheelchair or simply detach the walker from the wheelchair and continue ambulating while relying solely on the walker for support.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a wheelchair for moving a patient, and, more particularly, to a wheelchair with a detachable walker so as to reduce the possibility of a patient falling and being injured. 
         [0002]    Each year a typical nursing home reports 100 to 200 falls with approximately 35% of the falls resulting in injuries. It is also reported that over 80% of the falls occur among residents who cannot walk and, instead, use wheelchairs for their mobility and seating needs. 
         [0003]    Falls among hospital inpatients are common as well. Approximately 30% of hospital falls result in injury. Patients who fall and sustain an injury are reported to have hospital charges over $4,200 higher than patients who do not fall According to a 2009 report by the CDC, the total direct and indirect cost of all fall injuries for people 65 years and older exceeded $19 billion in 2000. By 2020, the annual direct and indirect cost of fall injuries is expected to reach $54.9 billion. The average cost of one fall for an older adult totaled $19,440 which included hospital, nursing home, emergency room, and home health care. 
         [0004]    Furthermore, these costs do not include the long-term effects of falls such as dependence on others, lost time from activities, difficulty performing personal care and household duties, pain and suffering and reduced quality of life. Prevention of falls in both hospital settings and long term care settings is therefore an important patient safety and public health issue. 
         [0005]    One of the areas where persons are likely susceptible to falls is in the transition of a patient from a wheelchair to a standing, ambulatory stance. The problem arises in that there are certain individuals who are strong enough to get up out of their wheelchair but do not have adequate balance to ambulate alone and are at a high risk for falling. 
         [0006]    Such individuals often have cognitive impairment as well and have decreased safety awareness and the inability to acknowledge their functional limitations. This population may include, but is not limited to, residents living in dementia and Alzheimer&#39;s care facilities, other nursing home residents, hospitalized patents suffering from post op confusion or altered mental status, stroke victims and traumatic brain injury patients. 
         [0007]    As such, the risk of a fall is great where such patients try to arise from a wheelchair to a standing position and/or try to transition from a wheelchair to a walker so as to ambulate on their own supported solely by the walker. 
         [0008]    It would, therefore, be advantageous to have a wheelchair that can facilitate the transition of a patient from a sitting position on a wheelchair to a standing position to continue ambulation with a walker by providing a combination of a wheelchair and walker that can be attached to and detached from the wheelchair so that the wheelchair can act as a safety device in the event the patient loses his or her balance and falls backward. 
         [0009]    It would also be advantageous to have a combination wheelchair and walker detachably attached together where there is a space intermediate the wheelchair and walker for the person to ambulate in a protective environment. 
         [0010]    It would be further advantageous to have the walker readily detachable from the wheelchair so that the patient can continue ambulating solely with the support of the walker. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    Accordingly, the present invention combines technologies to create a new, innovative mobility wheelchair and walker combination that addresses the wheelchair user&#39;s needs in one basic design. 
         [0012]    One of the key components of the present invention is that the walker readily attaches and detaches from the wheelchair. The combination wheelchair and walker is designed to prevent falls for a person transitioning from the sitting position on a wheelchair to an ambulatory standing position being supported by a walker. 
         [0013]    When an individual is sitting in the wheelchair, a caregiver can attach the walker to the front of the wheel chair by an attachment system. In the exemplary embodiment, the attachment system is comprised of securing downwardly directed members into attachment sockets. The downwardly directed members secure into the attachment sockets easily and quickly and allow a caregiver to facilitate the attaching and detaching of the walker to the wheelchair. 
         [0014]    As such, once the walker is attached to the wheelchair, the wheelchair&#39;s user will have the capability of standing up, holding on to the walker and ambulating while the wheelchair remains behind and attached to the walker to allow the user to sit back down. The walker and wheelchair can move individually or be locked in place, reducing the risk of falls during unsupervised activities. 
         [0015]    With the present invention, the user can stand up from the sitting position on the wheelchair and grasp the handle of the walker and remain in the space between the wheelchair and the walker so as to ambulate with the safety of the wheelchair behind the user in the event that user needs to sit down again. 
         [0016]    As another alternative, the caregiver can fully separate the walker from the wheelchair once the user has risen to the standing position and has grasped the walker so that the wheelchair can be left behind and the user can continue to ambulate with the sole support of the walker disconnected from the wheelchair. 
         [0017]    These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent during the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings herein. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a combination of a wheelchair and a walker attached together; 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the combination wheelchair and walker of  FIG. 1 ; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 3  is a top view of the wheelchair and walker of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0021]    Referring now to  FIGS. 1-3 , there is shown, a perspective view, a side view and a top view of a combination of a wheelchair  10  and a walker  12  attached together. As can be seen, the wheelchair  10  has a wheelchair frame  14  that incorporates a lower seat  16  as well as a back support  18  for holding the user in the proper sitting position within the wheelchair  10 . 
         [0022]    A head support  20  may be provided that extends upwardly from the back support  18 , again, for supporting the head of the user. Additionally, there may be arm supports  22  that are provided on each lateral side of the lower seat  16  for supporting the arms of the user. 
         [0023]    A set of swiveled front wheels  24  are located at the front of the wheelchair  10  so as to allow the wheelchair  10  to freely roll along a planar surface. As used herein the term “front” will be the area of the wheelchair  10  and walker  12  that is in the direction the user is facing when seated in the wheelchair and the term “rear” will be the opposite area of the wheelchair  10  and walker  12 . In a similar manner, a “forward” movement will be movement in the direction the user is facing when seated in the wheelchair and a “rearward” movement will be movement of the wheelchair in the opposite direction. 
         [0024]    There are two drive wheels  26  that are located along the lateral sides of the wheelchair  10  (only one of which is shown in  FIG. 1 ). The drive wheels  26  may be of the conventional type where the drive wheels  26  are manually grasped and rotated by the user in a forward or reverse direction to propel the wheelchair  10 . 
         [0025]    Alternatively, the drive wheels  26  may, as in the exemplary embodiment of  FIGS. 1-3 , be of a type wherein the user manipulates a pair of lever arms  28  by utilizing a pushing or pulling motion of the arms to move the drive wheels  26  simultaneously so as to move the wheelchair  10  in a forward or reverse direction or individually to turn the wheelchair  10  in a desired direction 
         [0026]    Turning then to the walker  12 , the walker  12  is comprised of a frame  30  of a standard nature in that it includes an upper handle  32  and side supports  34 . As is conventional, the user can grasp the upper handle  32  for support during ambulation or can grasp both of the side supports  34  for support during that ambulation. In either case, the user is normally in the upright, standing position 
         [0027]    The walker  12  also includes two forward struts  36  that extend from the upper handle  32  to bottom members  38 , that serve to support the upper handle  32 . As such, the bottom members  38  extend rearwardly from a pair of front wheels  40 , which may be swiveled wheels  40 , to be attached to the lower ends  42  of the bottom members  38 . 
         [0028]    In the exemplary embodiment, there can also be seen rear supports  44  having support legs  46 . It should be noted that the present invention may be constructed as the exemplary embodiment of  FIGS. 1-3  or in an alternative embodiment. To carry out the present invention, the walker  10  should preferable include the upper handle  32 , the front wheels  40  and the support legs  46  at the rear of the walker  12 . The support legs  42  may actually also be wheels consistent with the present invention. 
         [0029]    In any event, the walker frame  30  includes a pair of downwardly directed members  48  that extend downwardly and which interfit into hollow attachment sockets  50  that are affixed to the wheelchair  10 . As such, an attachment system is formed that allows the walker  12  to be attached to the wheelchair  10  and detached from the wheelchair  10  in a relatively easy manner to facilitate such attachment and detachment. 
         [0030]    When the walker  12  is in its attached position and thus joined to the wheelchair  10 , it can be seen that the interfitting of the downwardly directed members  48  into the hollow attachment sockets  50  are dimensioned such that the support legs  46  are located above the planar surface, such as a floor, upon which the wheelchair  10  and walker  12  rest. 
         [0031]    That attachment system, in the exemplary embodiment, allows the walker  12  to be raised and lowered vertically in order to carry out the detaching and attaching of the walker  12  and the wheelchair  10 . 
         [0032]    As a feature of the present invention, there can be seen, particularly in  FIG. 3 , the presence of a space  52  that is intermediate the wheelchair  10  and the walker  12  that has sufficient room to allow a user to walk in the space  52  when the walker  12  is attached to the wheelchair  10 . 
         [0033]    As can now be seen, the use of the present combination wheelchair/walker can be explained with reference to  FIGS. 1-3 . In a typical situation, the user can be seated in the wheelchair  10  and there is a desire on the part of the user or the healthcare facility to transition the user from a sitting position on the wheelchair  10  to a standing position supported by a walker  12 . In such event, the caregiver can simply attach the walker  12  to the wheelchair  10  through the use of the attachment system that provides an easy mechanical means of positively and readily carrying out that attachment. 
         [0034]    Accordingly, to attach the walker  12  to the wheelchair  10 , the walker  12  is simply raised vertically by the caregiver and the downwardly directed members  48  are aligned with the hollow attachment sockets  50 . By then simply lowering the walker  12 , the downwardly directed members  48  enter into the hollow attachment sockets  50 , thereby attaching the walker  12  firmly and positively to the wheelchair  10 . 
         [0035]    At this point, the user can move from the sitting position to the standing position and is still confined within the space  52  so that the user is protected from falling in any direction and the user can hold on to the walker  12  for assistance in rising to the standing position 
         [0036]    The user can then proceed to ambulate by holding on to the upper handle  32  or side supports  34  of the walker and, since the wheelchair  10  is still attached to the walker, the wheelchair  10  is available to catch the user if the user falls backwardly or simply gets tired and wants the comfort and safety of the sitting position on the wheelchair  10 . 
         [0037]    On the other hand, if the user is feeling comfortable with ambulating in the standing position, the caregiver can detach the walker  12  from the wheelchair  10  by the attachment system, that is, by lifting the walker  12  vertically to disengage the downwardly directed members  48  from the hollow attachment sockets  50  and the wheelchair  10  can be detached so that the user can continue walking assisted only by the walker  12 . 
         [0038]    Those skilled in the art will readily recognize numerous adaptations and modifications which can be made to the wheelchair and walker combination of the present invention which will result in an improved safety system to enable a user to transition from a sitting to a standing position using the combination wheelchair/walker, yet all of which will fall within the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined in the following claims 
         [0039]    Accordingly, the invention is to be limited only by the following claims and their equivalents.