Page 24 - Mobility Management, September/October 2021

ATP Series
Power Base Priorities
24 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 | MOBILITY MANAGEMENT MobilityMgmt.com Untitled-75 1 4/5/21 5:13 PM
POWER BASES: A Provider’s Perspective
Joe Scanlan, ATP, CRTS, specializes in working with ALS patients and pediatric clients at Reliable Medical Supply in Brooklyn Park, Minn. Those specialties give Scanlan an excellent point of view when asked if advances in technology are making it possible for more consumers to successfully operate power wheelchairs.
“Absolutely, especially with our most complex individuals,” he said. “The suspensions and tracking systems that the manufacturers have been developing are just a game changer, with the suspension keeping in contact with the ground and getting better traction when traveling over different terrains.
“At the same time, suspensions are keeping the seat surface consistent,
keeping the individual where they
need to be within the seating system to remain in contact with their drive control. [Suspensions and tracking systems] are working together: The tracking system
is also helping to reduce switch hits to correct the direction when driving on non-level surfaces with switches.”
Maintaining seated stability is vital, Scanlan said. “I was taught that when we’re looking for a switch access point, you want to look for a consistent, non-fa- tiguing part of the body for driving or for accessing their communications device,” he noted. “But if they only have one consistent, non-fatiguing body part, it’s going to fatigue.”
He recalled a family he worked with
whose son has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and recently received a new power chair. “The mother called me and said that with the past power chair, while they were out on their walk, she would have to reposition her son’s hand on the joystick,” Scanlan explained. “She said that when they got the new chair, she didn’t have to [reposition him] once. It’s a good sign manufacturers are going the right way with their suspension systems, because now this young man was able
to stay on his driver control and was independent, and they could have an enjoyable walk together.
“Our complex kids in the neuromus- cular disease category, or anyone with limited movement, have to stay right on