Stranded for Two Years Upstairs – A Stair Chair Solution

Challenge: A client from east Hamilton had no access to the second level of his home for over two years due to complications from a stroke.

Solution: He called SILVER CROSS Hamilton and decided to have a stair chair with fold up arms installed to allow him to do a slide transfer to the seat of the stair chair at both landings of the stair. SILVER CROSS also provided a recycled wheelchair with cushion so he would have great mobility upstairs.

Two Wheelchair lift Case Studies

There are two types of wheelchair lifts. One is a vertical platform lift that a wheelchair user drives up on, a button is pushed, and the lift takes the rider from one level to another. The other type of wheelchair lift is an incline wheelchair lift that is attached to a track that is mounted to a load bearing wall. To buy wheelchair lifts on line is questionable do to the customized requirements of each job site, size and weight of equipment being lifts and the wheelchair users physical needs.

Here are two wheelchair lift case studies:

A Gardena, California family was faced with getting into and out of their mobile home with a wheelchair after a stroke left the husband unable to walk. Ramps took up too much space and were too steep for the wife to manage.

Solution: SILVER CROSS Los Angeles provided a vertical platform lift (aka Porch Lift) for access to the rear door of the home, which left enough room for the existing stairs and left the carport free for the family car to be parked there.

A Torrance, California woman needed the lowest-possible cost wheelchair access to her home without advertising the fact that someone in the home was disabled.

Solution: SILVER CROSS modified the step entry into the main house and provided a wheelchair lift to access it. These modifications were discretely installed in the garage, out of sight, and with enough room left for the car.

There are many used wheelchair lift retailers than can assist in finding a lower cost alternative to a new wheelchair lift.

Do Recycled Stair Lifts Require More Service?

Many clients in need of home healthcare equipment ask the question: Will a recycled piece of equipment require more service?   From the SILVER CROSS experience, this is not the case.  

There are a few reasons for this observation.  

1. Most products like home stair lifts have a live span of ten or more years.  The average length of time a home stair lift is used is about 3.5 years.  So, the life span on a used stair lift lends itself to more than one stair lift user.

2. Another factor is that the end user’s expectations are perhaps slightly lower when purchasing a used stair lift, vertical lift or similar piece of equipment.  They expect the equipment to work but are less demanding compared to when purchasing a new stair lift.

3. The SILVER CROSS network, has a fairly high quality standard, so that a stair lift that you would receive from one of our members would tend to have plenty use left in the lift.

4. The types of stairway can affect reliability as well. There is a tendency for a curved stair lift to have more service over time than a straight stair lift.  This is likely due to the complexity of a curved stair lift being more involved than a straight stair lift. This is why it is a necessity to have a local dealer install a curved stair lift.

5. Another consideration is that there can be a relationship with more options and therefore more complex electronics that could result in more service issues.  A more basic stair lift will have less service issues over time. In other words, stair lift prices that are higher with more options, may require more service and dealer support.

Review stair lift models to get an understanding of which home stair lift models are more reliable over time.