Making it fit: A wheelchair's long life, made longer by the AT Lab

Kim Maibaum

After six years in her current wheelchair, Kim Maibaum is on track to get a new one. But first she needed some adjustments to make sure the current chair would last that long.

She came to the Assistive Technology Lab in Logan to meet with Lab Coordinator Clay Christensen. The AT Lab team replaced her wheels and wheel bearings, which were in very rough shape. Christensen also brought in a rehabilitation specialist from Norco, who will eventually get her into a new chair.

The Logan Assistive Technology Lab is part of the Utah Assistive Technology Program, located in the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University. Its mission is to help people with disabilities be more independent through the use of AT. In Maibaum's case, the AT Lab helped customize her wheelchair so it worked for her.

Indeed, Maibaum, her current chair and the AT Lab have been on a long path together. In fact, when it was brand new Maibaum did not use it, because it needed some modifications.

Christensen made some adjustments to the seating. Since then he has continued making basic repairs, reutilizing parts from the AT Lab. Today, Maibaum's power chair is a rolling Frankenstein collection of various wheelchairs. The time has definitely come to replace it, but the process will likely take two to three months, said Troy Gilbert of Norco. (The time between ordering and receiving a chair varies, depending on the insurance and the number of health care professionals who are consulted in the process.)

Last month's repairs helped ensure Maibaum will keep rolling into the future.

Christensen and others in the AT Lab work with Maibaum.