Wheelchair toilet, step rollator among ideas to help mobilize elderly (0) [Back]< Prev | Next >
(Lifestyles) Wednesday, 20 June 2007, 08:38 PST
by Lauren La Rose

Budget

TORONTO (CP) - Movable toilets, motorized rollators and bike helmets: to some, an unlikely trio.

Yet while the designs may differ, their creators share a common mission - to present ideas to help the elderly, and in turn, their caregivers, with mobility and safety.

Researchers and the university students were among those showcasing their creations at the inaugural Festival of International Conferences on Caregiving, Disability, Aging and Technology in Toronto, which organizers say drew an estimated 1,300 delegates from 62 countries.

Susan Gorski, a research associate with iDAPT, a research initiative of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, stood in front of a poster displaying Cloud 9, an integrated wheelchair toilet designed to help caregivers ease the strain of transferring patients.

“Caregiver injury is the highest in Canada of all injuries, higher than construction workers, forestry workers, people that you see doing heavy lifting,” she said.

“One of the most frequent movements that caregivers have to do is moving people from their wheelchair or from the bed to a commode chair,” she added. “We've developed this wheelchair to address that problem.”

The chair features a swing seat with a commode opening centre attached to the frame, and a custom seat with a motorized platform that can be moved up and down by remote.

Bringing the cushion down leaves the patient suspended in a sling, allowing the caregiver to remove the cushion and move the platform up to insert a bedpan - without having to remove the patient.

Pilot trials have been conducted with two elderly patients, a male and female, and their caregivers, and interest has been expressed in turning the chair into a commercial product, Gorski said.

Home visits with the elderly inspired University of Waterloo students to brainstorm and create a prototype of a moving step rollator after they noticed seniors had difficulty accessing items from their shelves, said Michael Allison.

“A lot of them use a grabby device where they'd reach up and just knock down the product and it often would hit them on the head or fall on the floor and spill everywhere,” said the third-year systems design engineering student.

“We thought of using their existing walking devices, attaching a motorized step so they could climb up and get their products in an intuitive manner.”

Users step on to the lowered device and use the button to raise the bottom step and its arms, while leaning against the front bar for stability as they ascend up to 25 centimetres, Allison said.

“This reduces the chance of them falling when climbing steps or using a stool or chair at home, which is a risky endeavour.”

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/i...970&Itemid=265