Knowing Commonly Used Terms When Shopping for Wheelchair Vans Can Help You Navigate to the Right Accessible Option
The Honda Odyssey is one of many quality options when selecting a side-entry wheelchair van. This is a BraunAbility Entervan conversion.
Automated Fold-Out Ramp
Minivan conversions with fold-out ramps can be either automated or manually deployed. Most van conversions utilize some type of automated or “automatic” system with a push button or key-fob to operate an electric motor that is used to fold down and fold up the ramp.
Certified Mobility Consultants
Most quality providers will have consulting staff on hand in their stores to work with clients in helping to explain different mobility options and with selecting the right van or equipment. Certified Mobility Consultants (also known as CMCs) have gone through specific training with the various mobility equipment manufacturers in order to properly demonstrate the use of the products. CMCs also have general knowledge in disability issues and will explore the client’s physical capabilities in order to make the right vehicle conversion or mobility equipment recommendation.
Conversion Manufacturers
Major auto manufacturers such as Chrysler/Dodge, Toyota, Ford and Honda build new van chassis from the ground up. These are often referred to as original equipment manufacturers or OEMs. A conversion manufacturer takes new OEM vehicles or pre-owned vans with low mileage and “converts” them for wheelchair accessibility for mobility dealers. A conversion can include lowering the floor, adding a kneeling system and ramp, new removable front seating, securement L-track on the floor, and electrical system upgrades for safe and convenient operation of the vehicle. Lowering the floor in itself presents many engineering challenges that require considerable time in the conversion process. Two of the most popular conversion manufacturers are BraunAbility and Vantage Mobility International (also known as VMI). Note: MobilityWorks is BraunAbility’s and VMI’s largest dealer in the United States.
Docking Systems
Wheelchair docking is an alternative system for securing the wheelchair to the floor of a van. Docking systems use an automated clamp like device mounted to the floor that locks on to a pin that is added to the frame of the wheelchair. Docking systems utilize an electronic push-button control console for quickly locking and releasing the wheelchair. Many wheelchair drivers utilize a docking system, eliminating the need for tie-down straps that would be problematic to use in the driver position.
Hand Controls
Hand controls are commonly used by paraplegic and amputee drivers and can be installed on most any type of vehicle. Several different styles of hand controls are available to match the needs of the driver with the automobile, van, truck or SUV. Most hand controls are mechanical, which means they are connected to the accelerator and braking system with the use of connecting rods and various hand grip options. The most popular among the systems is a push-pull design. The drive pushes forward to accelerate and pulls down on the controls to brake. A Certified Mobility Consultant can demonstrate the various options and connect the client with a Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist (CDRS) for driver evaluation and on-road training. For public safety and liability reasons, certification is required before a mobility dealer can order and install hand controls on a vehicle.
In-Floor Ramp
Mobility vans that have a side-entry ramp can also be equipped with an in-floor ramp system. What this means is that the ramp is located under the floor of the vehicle (when not in use) and slides out when deployed. The advantage of an in-floor system is that the ramp is completely out of the way, unlike a fold-out ramp that is an obstruction in the door opening in the up position. In-floor ramps can be a little more expensive in that they require more work to install, but can be a very practical option for those who want to utilize the passenger side sliding door without the wheelchair ramp being deployed.
Kneeling System
Ramp angle is a critical part of the making a van accessible. The lower the angle the easier is to enter the vehicle, particularly for those in manual chairs who wheel themselves in without an attendant. Kneeling systems are designed to raise the opposite side of the van, with an automated actuator, which lowers the passenger side, reducing the height of the floor and ramp. Kneeling systems are completely hidden and out of view from passengers and are controlled with the same push-button operation as the the ramp. In most cases, the van’s electrical system has been designed to open the sliding door, kneel the van and deploy the ramp in sequential order in one easy step.
L-Track
In order to secure the wheelchair to the floor of the van with a tie-down system, a strip of metal “L-Track” is attached to the floor. L-Track has small half-inch circular openings along the entire length that allow for a tie-down strap to be positioned in the correct angle and position for the person in the chair. L-Track can be installed in horizontal or vertical configurations depending on the type of van and desired wheelchair position.
Lowered Floor
Since headroom above the wheelchair passenger can be tight and a lower ramp angle is desired, most wheelchair vans are modified with a lowered floor. This accomplishes both goals of providing more room and a reduced angle necessary for entering and exiting the vehicle. Height at the door opening can also be a critical dimension for a larger person sitting upright in a chair or for a caregiver assisting with loading and securement. Lowered floor vans are structurally modified and require significant re-engineering of many vehicle components such as the muffler system, gas tank, and brake lines. Because of these modifications, conversion manufacturers have to crash test their vehicles to meet federal safety standards. It’s important that people try a vehicle’s lowered floor, kneeling and ramp system before buying.
New-New and New-Used Vans
A New-New conversion would be a brand new wheelchair accessible conversion on a brand new vehicle (less than a few hundred miles), while a “Used” van would be a pre-owned vehicle typically obtained by the dealer as a trade-in. New-Used is a term often referred to in the mobility industry as a New Conversion on a Used Chassis. New-Used conversions are a fairly common practice when inventory on new chassis become scarce and can also help to reduce the overall cost to the consumer. New-Used conversions are typically only done on lower mileage vehicles with very little wear or any major defects. Most quality dealers have a selection of New, New-Used and Used on their lots for you to choose from. As with any pre-owned vehicle purchase, Car Fax reports can also be provided to check for any prior damage from an accident or to identify manufacturer recalls that should be addressed. An extended warranty should also be considered when purchasing a van.
NMEDA and NMEDA QAP
The National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association is the industry organization that oversees the quality of member dealers and those who manufacture or resell other mobility-related transportation equipment. Its members offer products and/or services that are specific to the transportation needs of people who are in wheelchairs or that utilize an electric scooter. NMEDs provides training and guidance to its membership in areas that relate to serving the disabled community, safety, mechanical service, customer relations, and government-related issues. The Quality Assurance Program, or QAP, is certification by NMEDA that signifies that a dealer has met certain quality criteria for its service capabilities, facilities and technician training.
Rear Entry Handicap Vans
While most wheelchair accessible minivans have side-entry ramps, rear-entry vans are becoming more popular, especially in the commercial taxi market. Commercial and consumer rear entry options also include the Ford Transit Connect, rarely seen as a side-entry. Rear entries are typically less expensive than a side-entry conversion, with most having manual fold-out ramps. Spring loaded hinges assist with the fold-out operation. Rear entries are generally used with an attendant to help with folding the ramp and closing the doors, in addition to helping the disabled passenger with securing with wheelchair tie-downs.
Removable Seating
Most of today’s lowered floor side-entry handicap vans have removable front seat bases. Lowered floor conversion manufacturers typically put new seat bases in that have quick-connect plug-ins for the electrical components of the seats and wheels that allow for maneuvering the seats in and out of the vehicle. With removable seating, wheelchair driver and passenger positions in the front of the vehicle are easy to configure.
Retractable Tie-Downs
Tie-downs are an essential safety feature of wheelchair transportation. Used in conjunction with L-Track on the floor, a 4-point tie-down system, in addition to shoulder and lap-belt straps for the passenger, have been proven over time to be the a reliable passenger safety option. The easiest tie-downs to use have a retractable mechanism that rolls the strap back up with the touch of a button. This allows for faster loading and increased passenger independence with securing their own wheelchair.
Conclusion
Whether you’re an experienced wheelchair van purchaser or not, there are always new products and updates to existing models that a Certified Mobility Consultant can help to explain. Our mobility consultations are always free and clients can schedule an appointment at any time during normal business hours. MobilityWorks is here to help you with navigating the many options available to make your world more accessible.
Scooter Lifts and Scooters – A Winning Combination
There are conflicting statistics out there about the use of electric scooters for mobility impaired population groups, but these very agile devices are certainly growing in popularity. Just take a stroll through the local shopping mall or large grocery store and you’re almost guaranteed to see several of these compact devices zipping around corners.
Users of mobility scooters tend to have partial use of their legs, but their mobility is limited in terms of distance they can cover or the speed with which they can walk. Some scooter users have greater difficulty carrying objects due to weakness in their upper limbs, so these three-wheeled wonders help them while shopping since a basket can be very easily mounted in the front or back of the scooter to carry objects.
Since electric scooters are extremely simple to operate and very easy to sit on and exit, many senior citizens will use them in shopping situations solely, provided to them by the grocery store itself. The leading medical conditions that require individuals to use a mobility scooter or a wheelchair currently are victims of Stroke (11%), Arthritis (10.4%), and Multiple Sclerosis (5%). Regardless of the cause that puts men and women in these mobility aids, good battery life and ease-of-operation make using mobility scooters an easy form of assisted locomotion for both men and women.
But once you’ve purchased your scooter, how do you get it around easily? It’s not like these devices are designed for very long trips – or for speed on the highway! The answer, of course, is electric scooter lifts. And just as there are many makes and models of scooters themselves, so there are quite a few designs for scooter lifts – depending on variables such as the size of your automobile, garage space, weather conditions, even gas mileage considerations. Depending on your needs, there are plenty of choices in the market today. We always advise clients to work with a Certified Mobility Consultant (CMC) so that you select the most efficient lift system for your scooter and your transportation vehicle.
A few considerations to keep in mind as you shop around for an electric scooter lift are:
*Weight capacity. Whether you decide upon a lift with a mechanical hoist or a lift equipped with a drive-on ramp, additional weight will be be placed upon your vehicle. Having your van or SUV inspected to make sure it can handle the weight of this additional machinery and the scooter is an important step in the lift selection process. A newer product that takes some of these considerations away is the Bruno Chariot™ Lift, which is pulled behind your vehicle like a very small trailer – eliminating the need for much large vehicles in order to haul your scooter around.
This platform lift for power wheelchairs and scooters stays on the outside on a van or SUV.
*Interior versus exterior scooter storage. Depending on the scooter lift you purchase, your scooter will be stored during transport on the outside or the inside of your vehicle. If your scooter lift stores your scooter inside your van or minivan or SUV and works like the Bruno Curbsider® hoist system or Bruno Joey® platform lift , then you’ll most likely have to give-up the back row of seats in the vehicle to provide storage space for your scooter and the lift mechanism. If your electric scooter lift holds your scooter on the outside of your vehicle in the manner of the Bruno Out-Sider® Meridian™, your scooter will be exposed to all the weather conditions of your geographic area (Rain? Snow? Ice?) and your garage may not be able to accommodate the additional rear space taken up by the scooter lift and scooter.
Such considerations are necessary to figure-out BEFORE you purchase your scooter lift. MobilityWorks offers mobility consultation expertise to help our many client s find the best mobility solution for their particular requirements.
OTs Are the Real Superheroes
Filmed in Cleveland Ohio, The Avengers movie will soon be hitting theaters throughout the country, but the real “Superheroes” recently descended on Indianapolis.
Marvel Comic’s The Avengers
This past week, MobilityWorks attended the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) annual convention in Indiana. The event drew more than 5,000 attendees from all over the country and about 300 vendors. Occupational therapists are the heroes that work with our clients after suffering a debilitating event, such as a stroke or spinal cord injury, in order to regain the ability to do many of the physical tasks necessary to be independent. They transform lives for millions of Americans needing therapy services. Being an OT means having a lot of post-graduate training in many different medical areas – ranging from youth to elderly care. It also requires having a lot of patience and a strong desire to help people with physical needs at every stage of their recovery. Their goal is the same as ours, to allow people to live active lives again and to regain their independence as much as possible.
The AOTA convention vendors offered a wide array of different products and services to help clients with their rehabilitation process, such as improving motor skills, balance and hand-eye coordination. Academia was also well represented, as many colleges and universities were there to represent post-graduate curriculum. Many assisted living facilities were also there with displays looking to hire OT professionals. Even the Navy was on hand to recruit OTs. There were also driving simulators for training someone to drive again and wheelchair accessible vans made by BraunAbility.
While our mission was to connect with leaders in the occupational therapy world, the event was inspirational in that many of the younger graduates showed exceptional interest in our products and the SureGrip hand controls demonstration that we brought to the exhibit hall. Working alongside other organizations such as the Adaptive Driving Alliance, the National Mobility Dealers Association (NMEDA) and The Association of Driver Rehabilitation Specialist (ADED), our secondary mission was to educate new OTs attending on the importance of mobility products and the vast array of transportation options that are available. Soon they will be OT influencers guiding clients to our stores for adaptive quipment solutions.
Mobility Dealer Encourages Wheelchair Artists to Submit a National Mobility Awareness Month Doodle for Google
Add Your Artwork to Our "Doodle for Mobility" Gallery for a Chance to Win $100!
If you haven’t already heard, May is National Mobility Awareness Month. The National Equipment Dealers Association is marketing the event through the van giveaway contest which will provide three brand new wheelchair vans to three winners. The association, called NMEDA for short, is using an essay or video and public voting website to help with selecting the finalists.
Most people know that Google will occasionally show different designs at the top of their search page celebrating different events. Most recently they recognized "Earth Day" and the first day of Spring. With Google getting 34,000 search hits per second, we thought it would be neat to do a little more for awareness month with the help of Google, undeniably the king of all search engines. How cool would that be if Google were to show different “Doodle for Google” designs representing mobility awareness?
According to Google's Doodle Team web page: “The doodle team is open to user ideas; requests for doodles can be sent to proposals@google.com. The team receives numerous requests so even if we do not get back to you about your request, please know that we do look at and consider all the requests that are submitted.” In addition to the design shown above, below are a few more that Guy Hanford, our Director of Marketing, came up with and submitted to the Google Doodle team.
If you’d like to get more ideas from other doodle designs used over the years, Google has an online archive that can be found at www.google.com/logos.
Submit Your Artwork to the MobilityWorks "Doodle for Mobility" Gallery
Are you the creative type? Let us know if you’ve submitted your own doodle to Google and send us a copy of your design(s). They can be sent to marketing@mobilityworks.com. Note: we prefer jpg format, with image sizes being less than 1MB. Whether Google uses them or not, MobilityWorks is going to create its own “Doodle for Mobility” Web Gallery to showcase the artwork along with the name, city and state of the artists. At the end of May, we'll award a $100 Gift Card to our favorite awareness doodle. So get drawing!
Moving Ahead… Five New Locations Expand MobilityWorks Into Southern States
20 MobilityWorks locations are now spread across 12 different states.
Back in late February, MobilityWorks announced the merger of HDS Vans & Mobility (aka Handicapped Driver Services) with five locations in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. Much has been done with bringing these new locations into our system, which will eventually include their complete inventory of new and used wheelchair vans. We've started our orientation at each location, the hiring of new staff where needed, and integrating systems like e-mail, phone, CRM software and communication networks.
Here's what our new HDS clients and blog visitors should know:
1. MobilityWorks and HDS Vans both hold ourselves to the highest quality standards in the industry, including our service, products and personnel. All of our locations are NMEDA QAP certified, which means we are independently audited on a regular basis for quality control. We also conduct after-sale surveys (by an independent party) of our clients that are then reviewed by our executive team to make sure we are living up to our standards.
2. All of our Van Sales and General Inquiry calls are answered by our Client Care Center (CCC), located at our Akron OH headquarters. We route these calls to our CCC in order to insure that a.) every call is answered by a human being (not voice-mail or on-hold messaging) and b.) that each caller is provided with the information they need in a timely manner. If you don't know the local number of the closest HDS location, don't worry! You can call our CCC and they can connect you. We're here to help no matter what state you're from.
3. For existing clients needing mechanical service or scheduled maintenance, call our "Service" toll-free number from your home phone. Caller ID connects you to the closest store to schedule an appointment. They will also provide you with a local number and e-mail address where you can contact them directly for future maintenance.
4. Don't be afraid to call our CCC or store location - just to ask questions. That's what we're here for! If you'd like to stop in and look around, that's okay too. We prefer to have clients schedule an appointment if possible - but don't let that keep you from coming in and saying hello. We don't mind walk-ins. Most of our stores open at 8 AM and close at 5 PM M-F, so call ahead if you are running late. Many of our stores also have limited Saturday showroom hours. Evening visits and Saturday appointments can also be arranged.
5. Our online inventory includes vans from every location. We often move vans from one store to another if a particular make, model or color is preferred. This means that you get the van you want to own. MobilityWorks has the largest inventory of new and used vans to choose from -- or we can order brand new accessible vans with any special equipment or amenity requirements.
6. Many of our customers drive with hand controls. We install and service mechanical and hi-tech EMC driver controls provided by all of the major manufacturers in our industry. If you haven't received driver training, we can put you in touch with a local ADED member of the Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists that can do an assessment and teach you to drive with adaptive equipment. Talk to one of our Certified Mobility Consultants if you are unsure of what type of hand controls are available.
Staying on through the transition is HDS Owner/President Michael Dresdner and Scott Sorenson, HDS Chief Operating Officer. Scott will continue to oversee operations of the five HDS store locations, reporting to Eric Mansfield, our VP of Store Operations at the MobilityWorks headquarters in Akron, Ohio. You will continue to see the same names and faces you have come to trust when visiting Handicapped Driver Services.
As we continue to integrate HDS and MobilityWorks, all our clients will hear more about us by way of e-mail, Facebook postings, service reminder postcards and our upcoming 2012 In-Motion newsletter. To meet the staff and learn a little more about each HDS location, below are links to their new pages on our website. And don't forget to join us on our Facebook fan page!
HDS-MobilityWorks in Atlanta, GA
HDS-MobilityWorks in Birmingham, AL
HDS-MobilityWorks in Chattanooga, TN
HDS-MobilityWorks in Jacksonville, FL
HDS-MobilityWorks in Nashville, TN
