Recently, I volunteered to help out in a home for the aged and I had the opportunity to learn alot about elderly healthcare. In fact, most countries are facing a greying population as more people retire faster than young people entering the workforce. This is not helped by the lower birth rate as cost of living increases. This is a common issue faced by industrial countries such as japan, usa and europe.
On that day when I visited the aged home, I was tasked to clean and refurbish the wheelchairs used by the beneficiaries. I was given the tools to remove the wheelchair parts and clean them one by one. I started by removing the wheelchair seats and then the armrests. After that, I removed the wheelchairs and the leg plates to remove the rust and coat them with rust resistant agents. I find the wheelchair a very interesting and useful assistive tool for the users who cannot walk. I also had the opportunity to remove parts of the electric wheelchairs and see the inner wiring. Some elderly people who do not have the arm power to propel manual wheelchairs are issued electric wheelchairs.
These electric wheelchairs are a blessing for them because they are easily controlled using the attached joystick and most old people are able to control them with ease. I noticed that most of the electric wheelchairs belong to the Quickie brand which is one of the best in the industry. After asking the matron, I know that the home purchased used cheap quickie electric wheelchairs for its patients. These quickie wheelchairs are well furnished and repaired before arriving at the home. They are as good as new. It is actually quite difficult to find cheap used electric wheelchairs in the market as they can last quite long.
I have learnt more about electric wheelchairs after this experience.
