DH tossed out of Power WheelChair!!! Warning Mid Wheel Owners!

[shovan]

For those of you who use one of the Mid Wheel Drive Power Wheelchairs please remember the warning to put the seat in the lowest position before driving!

My DH has had his Invacare Pronto M61 for about 9 months! He's very mechanically inclined & found learning to drive it very easy. This weekend though his ease with using it caused him a serious accident.

We were having some very nice weather, so decided to eat dinner on the patio on Friday evening. The step from the kitchen door out to the patio is only about three inches. DH can easily go down this step but needs the ramp moved from our main entrance to the kitchen to come up the step.

I open the door & asked DH if he wanted the ramp moved to go out. Just has he said "No, I've got it." I see the chair hang up on the door threshold & forcefully tip forward & DH is literally thrown out of the chair. Before I can do anything, DH is spread out flat, face down on the concrete aggregate patio! I have to back the chair out of the doorway before I can get to him.

He's moaning for me to turn him over, but I can't tell where he is hurt. Then I see blood all around his face on the ground. I check everything else & roll him over. He took the brunt of the fall on his face! He's all cut up & swelling immediately. I call a neighbor for help & my SIL who's a nurse is on the way. DH then asks why he's on the patio & says all he can remember is fried chicken! My son-in-law arrives & checks him out further and determines he needs to see a doctor. By this time DH is coherent & refusing to go to the hospital.

Needless to say, SIL insists he has to at least go to an Urgent Care Center. (We're in New Orleans & a ER hospital wait is about 8-12 hours right now!) They check him out & Thank God it looks much worse than it is. The doctor says he'll have a black eye & lots of swelling, but doesn't need stitches, and sends us off with the typical warnings about concussions. Let's just say he looks as if Mohammad Ali was practicing on his face!

DH later realized he tipped over because he had his chair raised up in the highest position! I also don't think he will be attempting to go onto the patio without the ramp anytime soon.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Wow. That is quite a scare.

But at least he may have learned something and won't have it happen again.

 

[SueM in MN]

Wow!
That is pretty scary and a good reminder for people to always be vigilent for things they may not be thinking of.

 

[dclfun]

I'm glad he's okay. I can't imagine how terrifying it must've been to witness the whole thing and worry about your husband. I don't blame him...next time I'd be getting the ramp too! Just wanted to mention that if it's a three inch "bump" perhaps someone can pour a small concrete ramp or wedge there to make it a smoother transition and something permanent. I can imagine that for you, having to move and carry the ramp must get physically taxing. ---Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

you can buy small ramps for small distances like a threshold.
We bought one for the door from our laundry room to the garage. It was around $100, but it was money well spent. If you do a google search for "threshold ramp" you will come up with all kinds.

 

[shovan]

Thanks for the concern & advice on ramps. We are planning a concrete ramp there as soon as we receive approval from the state on renovations to make our house more accessible.

We are now thinking it might have been the rod underneath the chair that was installed for the EZ Lock in the van, that got hung up on the threshold, causing the chair to tip over.

I don't know of anything else that can be done to avoid this happening again other than not attempting bumps or curbs without a ramp. Luckily he was not strapped into the chair at the time, because he's convinced the chair would have come down on top of him.