For the past few months I have noticed what appears to be an increase in the number of motorized wheelchairs being used in the city I work in. I have 2 clients that use them. One of my clients has a regular wheelchair as well as a motorized one, the other just the motorized wheelchair. The nephew of a third client has a motorized scooter provided to him by the VA. All of these motorized means of transportation are paid for by the taxpayer. Actually the scooters are the least expensive, but since very few of these chairs/scooters are in the possession of people who can't walk, why do they have them?
Those who sell these drains on the taxpayers pocketbook will tell you it's to prevent the owner from being a shut in which is bad for their emotional/mental health. These chairs give them the mobility needed to get out of the house and enjoy life. Except, once the chair has been delivered, they tell you the chair ISN'T supposed to be used outside. The VA told my client's nephew the same thing about his scooter. They use them outside anyway.
Which brings me to my next concern about these chairs. How many medications are these people on? People who may not be in a sober enough state to drive a car are zipping around the streets in these things. They have pain, and may be on a dose of Oxycontin or morphine that would put the rest of us to sleep for a day. And there they are rolling down the street at 15 or so miles per hour without a care in the world. Does a driver who sees one of these people have any idea which way they're going? Hell, the people in the chair have no idea which way they're going. Trust me, I see the damage they've done to their apartments using these babies indoors.
Under sink cabinets with deep grooves cut into the doors. Refrigerators less than 2 years old with dents and grooves cut into them. Walls with huge chips of paint and plaster knocked off. These are HUD buildings, guess who pays for the repairs? Why the taxpayers do. These apartments aren't big enough to use these chairs inside them. Yet, these people have become so reliant on them that they won't get up and walk two steps to keep from damaging something.
The amount of pressure on doctors to order these chairs is a nightmare to them. The Scooter Store and Hoveround has the application of that pressure down to a fine art. Patient sees the ads. Patient wants one. Patient calls the provider of chairs and it's ON! Tactics even include having the salesman go to the doctor WITH the patient. I'm even being bombarded by ads. I checked the prices of chairs versus the scooters online. I haven't cleaned my browser out since and EVERY ad I see on any site I go to is from both of these places. Even in my email box. I can clean my browser out to get rid of them, it's not so easy for a doctor. For them, it's not just one patient.
Doctors who refuse to provide the prescription for these chairs have lost patients. In a way, Medicare/Medicaid and other insurance companies are contributing to this rip off of themselves. They won't pay for long term programs to help these people become stronger unless there's been a hospitalization that resulted in short term nursing home residency for rehabilitation. They won't pay for nutrition programs for the seriously obese. If a bone is broken, they'll pay for a few short weeks of physical therapy, but won't pay for long term PT on chronic back problems. Pain management these days consists of nerve destroying shots backed up by large doses of the "good" stuff. None of which would be necessary if people would actually do what the doctor asks them to do.
Lose weight, exercise, take a walk. They'd feel so much better if they did. I need to go clean my browser cookies out and go to work. I will feel much better then.
10 years back the wife's uncle got one, he was so out of it he could not operate it. He just set there unaware, sometimes it lurched into something, I don't think he was aware he hit the controls. He should never have had it, it was a rip-off But there are people who can still get around asking for them as you say, and getting it speeds the weakening of muscles and balance. As hard as it was to get around, it was exercise, the only they got sometimes. It's a damn shame. We refused to get my mother a wheelchair when she first wanted one. I don't regret it, she kept walking with the walker and did fine for a long long time.
ReplyDeleteThese people have no idea what they're doing to themselves. They think it gives them more mobility outside, and they lose muscle strength it takes to enjoy their lives. Sad, and in many ways hastens their end.
DeleteI hate seeing the bloody advertisements. They make older people seem childish - they have a woman sitting in the chair driving in circles and waving her hands around like she is on a roller coaster.
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
Yep, they need to be more honest in the advertising. They give the impression that these chairs can be used outside so people can use them as transportation. They can't. The scooters designed for outdoor use are considerably more expensive and Medicare won't pay for them since they aren't wheelchairs.
Deleteyeah not to mention being on their scooters at night time or pretty much dark where you hardly can see them! it is an accident waiting to happen. Those who need them truly probably can't afford them and those that do probably shouldn't have them!
ReplyDeleteWhen the scooters or chairs break down if the Scooter Store determines the problem was caused by outdoor use, the chairs don't get fixed. I've seen one person that actually needed one of these motorized chairs and hers is entirely different from what the scooter store is selling. She has MD and lives in the chair all day long. Plus, she's never damaged anything with hers. And she never goes outside in it unless she's being transported to an appointment.
DeleteI have friend who has one - he used it once and destroyed his apartment. Your and my tax dollars paid for an expensive machine collecting dust.
ReplyDeleteYep. The salesmen see how small these apartments actually are and they still sell these people a 3 to 4 hundred pound machine that has a motor on it. The ones that are sold under the Medicare contract run around $3,000.
DeleteOne of my clients has had the apartment building managers refuse to renew her lease due to the damage she caused. She's on so many pain meds she falls asleep while using the chair. Wakes herself up banging into walls.