Electric wheelchair... hahahahahahaahahahah

The only life Dee is offered in the PN hospital is to lie around in bed. The staff here are too busy, overworked, and not set up for spinal patients. Everything is hard work for them when dealing with spinal patients as they don't have enough staff to manage the spinal needs. For example, it takes 2 staff to hoist him into his commode chair, to toilet and then shower him, make his bed while he is out of it, and return hoist him back to his wheelchair.  Then he has to be pushed around if he wants to go anywhere, like the garden to get some sun or fresh air, because he is unable to wheel himself in his inadequate wheelchair. 

We asked the OT if Dee could have an electric wheelchair. She laughed really loud. And for a long time. 

There is such a wait, funding shortage, and such a crude process at the PN Hospital, that she honestly felt it was not even an option. 

At Burwood (I keep saying that!) almost everyone has an electric chair!  Dee was about to get one when he came home. Of course, you get your own specially designed and measured chair when you leave Burwood to go home, but while you are there, you get one that suits your needs. 

The advantages of an electric chair are that he can have some independence. He can go out to the garden, or go to the patient fridge to get a drink, etc. His manual chair in PN is a standard wheelchair. It does not have a spinal plate for his feet at the front, or the little wheels that allow him to turn himself easily. At the moment, when he turns, the front wheels get stuck on his feet (which he can't feel, or move) so the chair gets stuck!  It is only suitable for him to be pushed. Even then, it can be difficult to turn or move from forwards to backwards etc, especially on carpet. Other advantages of the electric chair are that it goes up and down, so he can reach things up high (like wash his hands at the basin or getting something out of the fridge) or he can lay back in the chair to rest - instead of having to be hoisted back into his bed, which is a much bigger deal. The electric chair allows him to stay in the chair, rather than the bed, for longer periods of the day, as it has more flexibility. 

Well, praise God....
He is clearly at work here, because the very next day an occupational therapist came down to Dee's room and measured him up for a new electric chair!  We serve a God of miracles!