Guidance For Wheelchair & Adventures

DRT 

Wheelchair and Van Checklist for Adventures

Inside House

·        Switch vents – turn off Baby Bertha 
Feed Little Bertha's tubes up under Don's left side as shown: 

·    Then put in Little Bertha "air life" tube under the white accordion tube where the Big Bertha tubes were

·    Big Bertha will beep, power it off and Baby Bertha if you have not already (power switch on the side)

** If Don wants to check if Little Bertha is charging, there is a "charge status" label on L.B. If charging, it will be orange and the small grey cord will be connected to the small grey lithium battery cord.**

·        Mouth suction

·        Ask Don if he wants lung suction 


Go here to learn how to do lung 

·        Yellow levers up on wheels

·        Empty suction machine bowl then put in bag

·        Bring suction machine power cord

·        Bring blanket and jacket, check bags for water bottles

·        Feet down like leaning back

Turn on van (if hot outside turn on air conditioning, if not open ramp)
·        Or take cart outside with suction machine for patio adventures
·        Move Tobii only after Don goes to the tracking status box! 

• Glasses on before head strap. 

·        Head strap on as shown: 

·

 Always Velcro to the bottom rear behind my head.  Place trach roll as shown to keep tubes secure:

                                                            

·        Tilt forward until green using front joy stick 

·        Important - Unplug from power strip

·        Turn wheel chair on green green (slow)

Going Outside

·        Hold Don’s head going over bumps

·        If van ramp isn’t down put it down

·        Position in front of ramp

·        Tilt head down all the way

·        Take off head strap

Getting in van

·        Put in van (hold head down) facing rear column where seat belt is

·        Put head band on (don’t raise head up yet)

·        Move front joy stick sideways – otherwise you can’t turn:                                                
                                                       

·        Face front middle two seats – you don’t have to be perfectly centered – it’s okay to be somewhat behind the passenger seat

·        Tilt head back - look at Don 

·        Feet up without touching seat

·        Plug in Bertha to car charger, only for highway trips! (check charging status)

·        Plug suction into car charger

·        Mouth Suction

·        Ask Don if he needs anything

·        To put ramp up push the black button to my right – step off the ramp!

·        When you get into the driver’s seat . . .

·        Check with Don to see if he is hot or cold

·        Don prefers windows down just a little bit instead of air conditioning if weather permits

·        Ask if radio is okay

Arrival

·        Park in handicap spot – the rear license has a handicap label

·        Mouth suction

·        Unplug both chargers and put over seats – loop both and secure in the arm  rests of the front seats:  

·        Move front joystick back to normal position
·        Feet down

·        Turn towards door - you don't have to be lined up exactly perfect 

·        Close burp tube and tuck elbows

·        Lean body down all the way

·        Take off head strap

·        Hold left shoulder back, with a little force and don't let go! 

Out of van

·        Head strap back on

·        Burp tube open

·        Lean head back and raise feet up ( except when you are going into my doctor's office) Sharp corners when turning! 

·        Show Don the ambu bag  and hang it on the rear of the WC

·        Ask Don if he is hot or cold

·        Ask Don if there is anything else he needs

** Railroad Tracks**

·        Turn on hazard lights a ways before going over to warn cars you’ll be going very slowly however the railroad tracks on Prospect and College doesn’t require hazard lights.

When We Get Home
·        Switch vents
·        Check lithium batteries! Tell Don their charged status- charge if 2 or more green dots do not appear
·        Turn on Baby Bertha
·        Unlock WC wheels
·        Put away medicine from doctors
·        Restock suction bag

In general:

• Automatically shuts off after about 20 minutes. 
• There are two joy sticks. One up front and one in the rear. The rear joy stick is removable for easy steering!  
• There are separate controls for my feet, my head and my back tilts. Another great feature is you can lean my back and feet into the leaning position almost flat (like in bed)! 
• On the front joy stick are two special buttons. The button with only one line is the drive mode. The second button with two lines controls the different tilts. Move joy stick from side to side to select which tilt to change. 
• Another cool feature is the WC can be charged during the day!
• It takes getting used to controlling the up or down tilts. It’s just like an airplane’s joy stick!
• There are four WC tilt options. The following pictures show all. 

Feet only:

For only back recline or tilt forward:

Tilt feet and recline or forward:

Head tilt forward or back:

• The new wheelchair does not have tilt numbers. When you tilt feet, look the foot pedals and when they extend that's the point to indicate when to stop. 
• The seat belts have side padding so the right belt lies down in the seat. The left belt hangs over the left arm rest. 
• In the rear are four blue buttons. Three are labeled, one does nothing. 
  

• To unlock the wheels the yellow levers face down as shown: 
  

• To take off the head  rest for haircuts turn the quick release as shown below: 
  

• This is important. The joy stick has a special feature to indicate where the head tilt number is even though no numbers are shown. As you lean head back the light in the middle bottom of joy stick is green. When the tilt gets to the perfect tilt it turns red!

After Shower - Little Bertha Setup:

• The following picture shows how to loop the vent tubes with the Velcro strip: 
  

• The following picture shows how to loop the power cord over the left handle: 
  

Here's a picture of how the power box is secured to the frame: 

Lung suction guidance:

• Before lung suction raise my feet up until my foot pedals start to extend, stop immediately. 
• Place hands as shown: 
  

• If I am not on Tobii you can recline only my back to make lung suction easier to reach me. 
• After lung suction you can use both feet and recline options to lower feet and raise head. 

CNA guidance:

• On both front sides are silver handles to pull the wheelchair forward during the CNA shift. 
  
• Unfortunately when the front wheels are turned to the side it's nearly impossible to pull or push the WC. 

                                              

• Make sure both front wheels are straight as shown when you push WC back: 
  
  
  
  The same is true for pushing the WC forward as shown: 
                                        

• Transfer from shower chair to WC requires the PA to lock both wheels when they bring the WC up to Don's legs.
• After transfer my PA must unlock both wheels as shown below: