Unicare makes powered mobility training fun for Silverchain's allied health team
Mobility Scooter and Power Chair Training
Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Unicare Health
Our long-term partnership with Australia’s leading in-home care service provider, Silverchain, extends beyond the supply of assistive technology and the provision of an extensive range of services at every level of their business.
As Silverchain’s preferred equipment supplier, we unicare about enabling Silverchain’s clients maintain their function and well-being through the proper use of assistive technology. We unicare about assisting Silverchain’s care coordinators make the best assistive technology choices for their clients, educating allied health teams to become more intelligent assistive technology prescribers, providing procurement teams with competitive pricing that goes above and beyond a product’s value, and collaborating with management to develop the best information systems to supply equipment and services to clients Australia wide.
Whether it is Silverchain’s hospital in the home, palliative care, aged care, or allied health, we apply our #morethancare values in all the work we do, to help support the 105,000 people they care for each year.
The occupational therapists at Silverchain are a friendly and professional bunch, dedicated to supporting their clients to restore, improve and maintain their functional independence and well-being.
Powered mobility scooters and power chairs are just two examples of the many types of powered mobility equipment that Silverchain’s occupational therapists would prescribe to their clients to facilitate their independence at home and in the community.
Because each client presents a unique set of needs and functional abilities, learning how to prescribe the right mobility scooter or power chair based on clinical needs can be a challenging process. A client’s mental health, cognitive abilities, medication, pressure care requirements, physical size, weight distribution, environment, and even personal goals must all be considered.
Llew Pollard, customer relationship manager at Unicare Health, works closely with Silverchain’s occupational therapists to get to know clients, understand their needs, as well as their daily activities and goals. Llew’s extensive experience with powered mobility equipment enables him to assist occupational therapists in prescribing the most appropriate mobility scooter or power chair based on a client’s unique needs.
Together with Unicare Health’s clinical educator and trainer, Annette Terranova, the duo delivered an informative and fun filled practical session about all there is to know about mobility scooters and power wheelchairs, as well as safety considerations.
In this session, occupational therapists learned how to choose between solid and pneumatic tyres, when and why to choose a three or four wheeled scooter, considerations for accessory options like oxygen bottle holders, and more.
It also covered safety tips such as making sure the scooter is switched off before getting on or off, modification risks, storage and maintenance issues, manufacturer warranty and servicing guidelines, and more.
Through a demonstration, Llew talked about factors to take into account when disassembling and reassembling portable scooters, and urged everyone to think about little 80 year old Mary who wants her 85 year old husband to disassemble her scooter, lift the parts into the car, and then put them back altogether at the shopping centre car park when they got there.
Everyone had a fun experience trying out mobility scooters and power wheelchairs in the Unicare car park so they could learn how the controls worked, how the various Shoprider models handled turning corners, ramps, and thresholds, and how all the other features on a scooter were an important consideration for safety and usability.
Annette challenged everyone to try distracting one another while they were taking a ride, to understand how good eyesight, hearing, strength and balance, as well as the ability to problem solve and make quick decisions was important for safely manoeuvring a scooter.
Everyone was given an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the different Shoprider models and access their suitability for clients with different needs.
They learned which models were permitted on Transperth buses, trains and ferries, as well as where they could go to have compliant scooter carriers installed on vehicles.
The lively bunch left the training session well-informed, with a better understanding of scooters and power chairs as an essential form of transportation especially for clients who could no longer hold a driving license.
They also gained a better understanding of the significance of prescribing the right scooter model for the right reasons.
Thank you
To all the Silverchain occupational therapists who attended this mobility scooter and power chair training session, thank you for your awesome feedback and for spending your afternoon with us. Being able to get around using a mobility scooter or power wheelchair can make a tremendous impact to the quality of someone’s life. We trust that our education sessions will impact the way you continue to prescribe equipment solutions to achieve better client outcomes.
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