Page 14 - Seating & Positioning Handbook, 2020

RazBari: Reimagining Bariatric Commode Chairs
Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) success often depends on a product’s ability to
accommodate the needs of a particular client.
Mobile shower commode chairs aren’t always a highly customizable category of CRT, and in the bariatric space, even fewer choices have been available. But Raz Design’s new bariatric line could have you rethinking what to expect from commode chairs.
Raz Design’s RAZ-AT600
Introducing the RazBari Line
The new RazBari lineup features
the Raz-AP600 (Attendant Propel); the Raz-AT600 (Attendant Tilt);
and the Raz-SP600 (Self-Propel),
all with 600-lb. weight capacities. David Harding, CEO of Raz Design, explained the line’s ambitious goals.
“We wanted to develop a bariatric tilt chair that didn’t use a powered linear actuator, which is the easy way to put somebody who weighs 600
lbs. in and out of tilt,” he said. “The more [equipment] that needs to be charged in hospitals, the more difficult it is. It’s okay for stuff that gets used
every day, like patient lifts; they’ve got automatic charging to make sure it’s charged when needed.
“But they may not need a bariatric chair in a hospital for three months. And then all of a sudden, two patients need it. Nobody’s going
to remember to keep it charged when it’s only used intermittently. So that was the number one thing we wanted to address.”
Raz’s Weight Assist Spring System (WASS) uses gas struts and coil springs to counterbalance the user’s weight and reduce the caregiver effort needed to tilt. No charging is needed.
The Raz team also wanted the RazBari line to accommodate a range of body types. “We wanted
to have a chair that was modular,” Harding said. “Because in the bariatric category, it can be anyone from a muscular football player who weighs 400 lbs. to someone who is 5'2" and weighs 400 lbs. We needed a huge amount of flexibility to accommodate various body sizes.”
Tilting Techniques
Tilting is critical to efficient transfers for this client group, Harding added: “When you transfer with any kind
of lift, whether it’s a ceiling lift or a mobile lift, the center of mass pulls the person into a tilted position in
the sling. You can’t get somebody
at 90°/90° to the floor. They just hang in a tilted position, so dropping
them onto a seat that is flat typically perches them on the front of the seat.
“If you can drop them into a chair that’s tilted, they can be dropped into the back of that seat. To read- just their position, sliding them back down a slope 2" or 3" versus trying
to pull them back on a level seat is much easier to do.”
RazBari chairs can adjust to better distribute a user’s weight. “We can change where the weight is located, the center of mass of the individual relative to the wheelbase,” Harding said. “Our backrest can be adjusted fore/aft. We have sling upholstery with an adjustable strap, so we can move them back a few inches that way.”
While the standard weight capacity of RazBari chairs is 600 lbs., the Raz Design team can accom- modate higher weights. “We do a lot of custom frames, as well,” Harding said. “We make longer seat frames, longer base frames.” At maximum
tilt (25° posterior), a standard RazBari chair is 52" long, or 42" long at 0° tilt.
Improving the Seating & Mobility Clinician’s Experience
Emma Friesen, Ph.D., Clinical Director at Raz Design, said many RazBari features were born of comments from clinicians, end users, and funding sources. “One piece of feedback we had received for this particular product category is it’s often quite stressful for a clinician to do a custom order because there are so few opportunities to trial the product and so many things that are hard to identify,” Friesen said. “It’s easy for things to go wrong.”
Customizability is great for fine- tuning a chair’s fit, but can be complex for time-strapped clinicians. “As we relaunched this range, we expanded our standard offerings,” Friesen noted. “We now have [seat] widths that we consider standard: 22", 24", 26", 28" and 30" wide chairs. And from there, all of the options and accessories that
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