Modification to Shower Chair
In order to enable the new shower chair to navigate my small landing and narrow doorways, I've had to remove its push rings and foot plates, making it both narrower and shorter. The consequence is that the only way of moving it about is to proceed backwards, dragging my legs. This is slow and cumbersome.
So I contacted Remap, a charity that specialises in making items, or modifying existing items, that can't be bought as standard products.
Remap Berkshire assigned John Morgan, a retired engineer, to design and make a compact foot rest. He first came up with an ingenious idea of using a piece of plastic drainpipe as a removable foot rest. However my floppy legs tended to slip off it.
Mark 2 was a wooden equivalent with a small platform on top.
This sparked an idea for a Mark 3, which is photographed below. With this I can proceed forward with feet clear of the ground and quickly manoeuvre over the loo or under the shower, a much more satisfactory solution. The platform is hinged, so can be folded back when getting in or out of the chair, now being achieved using a transfer board.
The result is a sportier and easier chair to drive around, that fits through my restricted landing and doorways.
So I contacted Remap, a charity that specialises in making items, or modifying existing items, that can't be bought as standard products.
Remap Berkshire assigned John Morgan, a retired engineer, to design and make a compact foot rest. He first came up with an ingenious idea of using a piece of plastic drainpipe as a removable foot rest. However my floppy legs tended to slip off it.
Mark 2 was a wooden equivalent with a small platform on top.
This sparked an idea for a Mark 3, which is photographed below. With this I can proceed forward with feet clear of the ground and quickly manoeuvre over the loo or under the shower, a much more satisfactory solution. The platform is hinged, so can be folded back when getting in or out of the chair, now being achieved using a transfer board.
The result is a sportier and easier chair to drive around, that fits through my restricted landing and doorways.
Thank you for posting this, JB. As John's daughter, I am enormously proud of the work being done by my retired Dad and of course the concept of Remap in West Berkshire. So glad the final solution is working so well.
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