Page 10 - Mobility Management, July 2017

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Rowheels Names New CEO
Mindermann: We’re a New-World Company
Fred Mindermann
While Fred Mindermann, newly named CEO of Rowheels, hasn’t worked in complex rehab till now, he’s very familiar with healthcare — and home health, specifically.
Joining Rowheels — based in Fitchburg, Wisc. — is coming home for Mindermann, who was born and raised in nearby Madison. He began his career working in local hospitals and nursing homes; he has a degree in respiratory therapy and has worked in home health.
In the ‘90s, Mindermann worked in telemedicine and with the ultimate remote patients — NASA astronauts needing care while on missions. But regardless of the setting, Mindermann sees a commonality to his career.
“My whole background has been in home health and how can we bring solutions that might be global to a local level?” he said. “That’s always been a theme.”
A Propulsion REVolution?
Now Mindermann leads Rowheels, maker of manual wheelchair wheels propelled by pulling backward on the handrim, toward the user, rather than pushing down and away on the handrim. The company has coined the term “Rowheeling” to describe the propulsion motion.
The company was co-founded by Salim Nasser and Rimas Buinevicius in 2011, but recently, the company decided it was time to bring a CEO on board.
“When I saw the company, it immediately struck me that there had not been a revolution in wheelchair tech- nology for many years,” Mindermann said. “The princi-
ples have pretty much all been the same, where you’re pushing forward and your position and posture are pretty bad. Having been a respira- tory therapist and having dealt with home health, I saw
the degradation of people after years of using a typical wheelchair, where you’re pushing forward. Your shoulders and rotator cuffs are negatively impacted, and on a pain
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scale, over the years it gradually gets worse until many
of the people have to have surgical correction. It also impedes on good posture and good respiration so a lot of people who are in wheelchairs have multiple conditions.”
The Rowheels difference, Mindermann said: “To be able to sit up and row backwards from 3 o’clock to 9 o’clock and have your diaphragm be able to breathe properly. To work not just three muscles in the front of your body, which happens with typical wheelchairs. \\\\\\\[With Rowheels\\\\\\\] you’re actually working nine different muscles that help you improve your health.”
Coding & Financing
Mindermann joins Rowheels at a busy and crucial time. “We just received notice in Europe that our patents
have been approved, and they’ll be finalized in August,” he said. “We already have our U.S. patents, which cover a forward propulsion with a backward motion.”
Rowheels currently has two models — the original REV HX and the newer REV LX.
“The HX was released in 2015 and has a little higher gear ratio, which takes a little more effort to work,” Mindermann said. “Then we came out with the LX, which is a lower gear ratio, last fall — it is about 25 percent easier to move forward. Because this is a mechanical solution, it fits under \\\\\\\[HCPCS code\\\\\\\] E2227.”
Up next: Finalizing a Rowheels financing program, and continuing to educate the industry’s professionals and consumers. “We’re kind of a new-world company in an old industry,” Mindermann said. “We leverage social media a lot. Our spokesperson, Scott Chesney, talks with people all the time and communicates via e-mail and Twitter. We have a newsletter that comes out monthly. You can talk to Scott and ask questions.”
An ongoing goal is to raise capital to fund a lower-cost Rowheel for the K0001 market, and a new REV 3 version will have a retail-sale price point. A future Rowheels product for the international market might be an all- inclusive wheelchair frame with Rowheels wheels.
“We’re a small company,” Mindermann said, “with a great solution.” m
— Laurie Watanabe
MobilityMgmt.com
PHOTOS COURTESY ROWHEELS