Save the date: basic wheelchair maintenance & repair webinar

Tom Boman

When you spend your whole workday refurbishing wheelchairs, scooters and other mobility equipment, you know a thing or two about their repair and maintenance. In October, CReATE coordinator Tom Boman will share his knowledge in a free webinar, covering topics like battery maintenance, joystick repair and keeping those wheels turning properly.

The event takes place October 23 at 10:30 am. It will be posted later on our YouTube channel.

If you have a question for Tom, or if you'd like to sign up, email utahatp[at]gmail.com. We'll add you to our list!

The CReATE warehouse is full of examples of Tom's repair and refurbishment skills.

CReATE's Tom Boman: a success story that keeps on giving

Tom Boman coordinates the CReATE program in
Salt Lake City.

It’s a familiar story with a surprise twist: Man acquires a disability. Man loses job. Man gets another job. Thanks to this unexpected career change, hundreds of other Utahns get moving again.

Tom Boman has been with UATP since 2013—long enough that his “happily ever after” has some hefty numbers behind it. Since he started with the CReATE (Citizens Reutilizing Assistive Technology Equipment) program in Salt Lake City, he has helped 569 people receive mobility devices that otherwise might have ended up in the dump. Without the program’s help, many, many people would not have been able to move as independently.

His story with the Utah Assistive Technology Program began with the sudden onset of vertigo. “I still don’t have a diagnosis,” he said. “I’ve been to all the rock star specialists in Salt Lake.” With time, he figured out that his symptoms were much better when he was moving around, and that allowed him to stop using heavy medication. But his days of working at a desk were over.

Boman poses with Gideon, one of  many happy clients.

He started work with Deseret Industries, an employment program that teaches new skills to its associates, first within the setting of the DI thrift store and then, after a trial period, with temporary business partnerships. And that is how Boman first met Clay Christensen, the Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator at UATP. Both CReATE and UATP are part of the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University.

Christensen put Boman to work in the Logan AT Lab while Deseret Industries paid his wages as part of the internship program. Christensen noticed right away that Boman was comfortable with tools, he had an excellent work ethic and he was able to keep organized in an environment that could easily be overwhelmed with donations.

Rollin Woodward, another client

At the time, CReATE was operating as a UATP initiative in Salt Lake, but it needed a new person to staff it. Someone who was self-motivated, organized and good at tinkering with mechanical things. Christensen offered the position to Tom, who commuted between Salt Lake and Logan for a year before he became a full-time coordinator of the program--and a Salt Lake City resident.

“He went down there and he turned it around,” Christensen said. In 2014 the program was transferring about 10 devices a month. In 2016 the average was around 20.

Boman’s job has helped many, many people along the way. “I can’t sit, but I work with people who can’t walk,” he said. CReATE fills a need that often goes unnoticed in Utah. After all, if people are unable to move independently, they’re not likely to be out on the street where they can be noticed. But their joy at getting their mobility back is unmistakable.

“It’s quite common for some of the mobility devices we transfer to almost become an extension of people’s bodies,” Boman said in an earlier interview. “We refurbished a power wheelchair for a lady that enabled her to continue her work on a medical assembly production line. The power seat on her previous chair stopped working, and she spent months not being able to change her body position for her ten-hour shifts. The power wheelchair we worked on for her has power rehabilitation seating that enables her to elevate herself up to the correct height, and to vary her body position to eliminate fatigue and injury. Seeing that direct impact on people’s lives makes this work very rewarding.”

Daemon Wabel

Stacey Webel turned to CReATE when her son, Daemon, outgrew his chair and the $4000 deductible on a new one was just too far out of reach. Boman found a chair that would work, made some modifications so that it would continue to suit the needs of a growing boy. When they introduced Daemon to his new chair, it was a happy moment. He cannot speak, but he communicated all the same. “He screamed with delight,” Stacey said. “He was just bouncing around in there. He loved this chair.”

The need is real. Insurance typically pays for a wheelchair every five years, but they often break down before then. Warranties expire. Children outgrow their chairs. Sometimes, even when insurance does replace a chair, people often have to wait for weeks or months for it to arrive.

CReATE steps in to fill the these gaps, taking donated chairs, refurbishing them and providing them to people who need them, often for less money than an insurance deductible.

The program serves people regardless of age, income or insurance status. It does it on a shoestring, with the help of Boman, a part-time staff member and a group of dedicated volunteers.

Need a wheelchair, knee scooter or other mobility device? Visit the CReATE web page on the Utah Assistive Technology Program website. There, you can find a referral form. To contact CReATE directly, call 801.887.9398.

Want to help? Donations are always welcome. CReATE is working now to deliver a power wheelchair to Jacques, a young disability activist in Burkina Faso, Africa. The wheelchair is ready, but we must raise funds for the shipping. Find out more on the Yembre Go Fund Me page.

Help us provide wheels for Jacques

Jacques Guenaro Zongo

Over the summer, a young man contacted the Utah Assistive Technology Program through Facebook, asking if we could help him find a wheelchair.

Since then, we have learned a lot about Jacques, what he needs, why he contacted us, and how to help.

Our biggest barrier: he lives in Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa. Our next-biggest barrier: while the UATP's CReATE program had a chair that would serve his needs, it did not have funding to provide the needed extra batteries or pay for the chair's shipment it to West Africa.

But CReATE and its friends are not giving up, because the need is real. Today we are asking for your help.

"Here it is very hard to get a wheelchair because there is no one who makes them," Zongo said in an interview we conducted through Facebook.

Zongo attends the University of Ouagadougou. He is part of the organization Mouvement Panafricain Des Droits des Personnes Handicapees (Pan-African Movement for the Rights of Handicapped People). "Here I took part in many meetings for people with disabilities to know my rights and to prepare my future fighting for our rights in many countries of Africa," he said. "Every time, I share many pieces of information about people with disabilities and try to encourage those who feel hopeless to never give up, because disability is not incapability."

He heard about what we do through Ismael Traore, one of a delegation of people from many countries who visited the CReATE program in 2015. The visit was arranged through the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy. During the delegates' visit, CReATE coordinator Tom Boman tuned up Traore's wheelchair and sent some extra wheels back with him. Traore knew Jaques, and they both began working with CReATE and Natalie Moore, a former Peace Corps volunteer who worked with Traore during her two years in Burkina Faso.

In fact, Moore helped Traore apply for the Visitors Leadership Program, run through the U.S. State Department,  before she left Burkina Faso. That program helped him come to the U.S. to learn more about disability rights. His involvement led him to tour CReATE in 2015.




Moore, now back in the states in Washington D.C., heard of Jacques's need and began making some goals that launched a fundraising effort--she has named it Yembre--to transport wheelchairs to Jaques and others like him. "The first thing that Yembre can do is get Jacques a wheelchair," she said. From there she would like to help the university at Ouagadougou to get an accessible bus, which could then be used as an example to the Burkina government for accessible public transportation.

She knows of no accessible buses in Burkina Faso. People with disabilities in face many barriers to independence, she said.

Jaques agrees. For now he relies on classmates for help, but he hopes for more independence. "After my graduation I want to work in an organization that helps people who are suffering," he said.

For a closer look at Ismael Traore and life for people with disabilities in Burkina Faso, watch this documentary (it has English subtitles).

UATP welcomes new staff member to CReATE

The Utah Assistive Technology Program welcomes Caroly Hulinsky to CReATE in Salt Lake City. (Citizens Reutilizing Assistive Technology Equipment is UATP's reutilization program; we take used and donated mobility equipment, refurbish it and transfer it at a low cost into the hands of people who need it.)

Carolyn Hulinsky

Here is a quick Q & A with Carolyn.

Q: What do you do at CReATE?

A: I have a variety of tasks and don't do the same thing every day. I am responsible for maintaining the database by processing all of the transfers and purchases. I do any other office work that may be needed. I also schedule for delivery and pickup of chairs.

I am also very busy organizing, sorting and counting all of our inventory and entering it into the database. I am working to take the administrative work over from [CReATE Coordinator] Tom Boman so that he can have the time to work on and turn out more chairs. In time I will also begin to learn how to refurbish a chair... I feel like there is so much I can do and I want to learn.

I like working here at CReATE. I think it is so important to help individuals regain their mobility and facilitate their independence. I also think the volunteers and Tom are so fun to hand around as we work.

Q: How did you hear about CReATE?

A: I am a teacher in the morning, and I am co-teachers with Tom's wife. She told me about Tom and what he does. She later mentioned he was hiring someone to work in the office and help out with various things in the shop. It sounded like a really worthy place to work. I like helping others.

Do you have a background in disability?

I have a friend that has some experiences with disabling injury. My friend Chris Santacose is a paraglider. He had a traumatic injury that required him to do rehabilitation for a year before he was able to walk again. As a result he created project airtime.

I do have some background working with an individual with a disability. My sister-in-law had a major stroke when she was 35. I cared for her in my home for two years. I am still her guardian.

Carolyn, thanks for your time, and welcome to UTAP!

Volunteers help make our world go 'round

Utahns, are you looking for a place to serve? We have three!

The Utah Assistive Technology Program has long taken pride in its volunteers, who have helped us serve Utahns with disabilities for years. We have enjoyed the help of people who have retired but not stopped working; of students and community members; and, most recently, LDS missionaries fulfilling a service requirement.

AT Lab Coordinator Clay Christensen has two messages for those who donate their time to the AT Labs or CReATE: Thank you. And please don't stop.

Lately Christensen has been swamped with wheelchair maintenance requests--perhaps because insurance doesn't always cover the need, maybe because it's hard for patrons to find someone who can do it. He is grateful for the volunteers who help him keep up with the demand while still tending to other aspects of the AT Lab mission: demonstration, training, research and the development of prototype devices that help people with disabilities become more independent.

"It makes a huge difference," he said while two missionaries worked on moving and disassembling wheelchairs. "The labor these guys did today would've taken me five hours." (The two missionaries worked there for two hours that day.)

"It's fun," said Elder Weston, who has been coming twice a week. "It's hands-on, I get to tear things apart, and I help people change their lives."

"It's good to stay busy, and know something good's going to come out of it," said Elder Weston, who worked in the lab at the same time.

They are examples of what CReATE Program Coordinator Tom Boman said is ideal volunteers, because they come in on a regular basis. Boman, too, has benefited from volunteer help, which has eased the demands on his time. The program, based in Salt Lake City, refurbishes used mobility devices and transfers them to people who need them at an affordable cost. CReATE now transfers more than twice the number of devices as it did in 2014.

Volunteers help Boman keep up with the demand and deliver record numbers of mobility devices into the hands of people who need them. CReATE has enjoyed 30 to 50 hours per week of donated time in recent months, but Boman said they could always use more. "Volunteers who are willing to come in on a regular basis can really help us out," he said.

The new AT Lab at USU-Uintah Basin in Roosevelt is already feeling a similar pinch: lots of donated devices that could use some tweaking, lots of need, and not enough hours in a day. Lab Coordinator Cameron Cressall said volunteers would be welcome.

To find out more about volunteering with UATP, contact:

Clay Christensen, Logan Assistive Technology Lab, 435.797.0699
Tom Boman, CReATE, Salt Lake City, 801.877.9398
Cameron Cressall, USU-Uintah Basin AT Lab (Roosevelt) 435.722.1714

UATP trailer means CReATE devices can now go on the road

Jose Morales receives a wheelchair from CReaTE
in Salt Lake City. Soon, people in  the
Uintah Basin will have access to CReATE devices.

For years, CReATE has been putting equipment into the hands--and smiles on the faces--of people who need mobility equipment on the Wasatch Front. Now, refurbished mobility devices can roll out to new parts of the state.

An exchange of devices between CReATE in Salt Lake City and the Uintah Basin can now begin, thanks to the opening of the Utah Assistive Technology Program's new USU-Uintah Basin AT Lab and the addition of a big trailer.

The new trailer was purchased through a grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, and it's an important part of UATP's goal to make services mobile in the Uintah Basin.

UATP staff can now to pick up donations from the USU-Uintah Basin AT Lab and deliver them to the CReATE program in Salt Lake City. There, they can be refurbished and transferred at an affordable cost to people who need them. The CReATE program can also transfer wheelchairs, walkers and other mobility-related assistive technology back to people in the basin.

"We want people to know that this is part of the Roosevelt Lab," said Clay Christensen, the Logan AT lab coordinator. "{Roosevelt AT Lab Coordinator] Cameron will represent CReATE in the basin area."

That's good news--and it's sure to bring more smiles to people with disabilities in rural Utah.

Wheels for Daemon

Daemon in his new chair

Daemon Wabel had outgrown his wheelchair. “He’d had the same wheelchair since he was three, and he’d outgrown it,” said his mother, Stacey.

It was too narrow, and it was falling apart. But replacing it would mean paying a $4000 deductible, and that price was awfully steep.

So Stacey found an ad on KSL Classifieds that mentioned the CReATE program. Based in Salt Lake City, CReATE takes used mobility devices and refurbishes them, then transfers them back to people who need them at a low cost.

She contacted Tom Boman at CreATE. Tom asked for some measurements, then searched the inventory for a chair that would work. CREaTE doesn’t normally stock pediatric chairs, but they did find a smaller chair for Daemon. “It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” Stacey said.

That was just the first step. Boman needed to refurbish Daemon’s new chair, so he did some welding on the old one to help it hold together until the refurbished one was ready. “He’d gotten a lot of use out of that old chair,” Boman said.

Boman also modified the new chair so that it could accommodate Daemon as he grows.

When Daemon received his new chair, it was a joyous moment. He does not talk, but he still communicated.  “When we changed him out of his other chair, he screamed with delight,” Stacey said. “I’m not exaggerating. He was just bouncing around in there. … It was very obvious that he loved this chair.”

Boman said CReATE helps people—like Daemon—who have needs that cannot be met. Often, insurance programs only pay for a wheelchair every five years. Many chairs don’t last that long. 

Fortunately for CReATE, other chairs do outlast their owners’ need. Some of those are donated to CReATE, where they are refurbished and transferred to those who need them at a low cost. CReATE (Citizens Reutilizing Assistive Technology Equipment) is part of the Utah Assistive Technology Program within the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University.

To find out more, visit the CReATE web page.

Video: Accessing Services from the Utah Assistive Technology Program

Do you need an assistive technology device? Do you have a goal for independence and you need to figure out how to meet it? Do you already know of technology that could help you gain independence--or even income--but you don't know how to finance it?

This is for you!

This video offers a brief introduction to the Assistive Technology Lab, the CReATE reutilization program (at 19:09) and loans available through the Utah Assitive Technology Foundation (at 36:31).

Q&A with Tom Boman at CReATE

Tom Boman

CReATE lab coordinator reflects on success in Salt Lake City

Recently, the people at CReATE in Salt Lake City finished a month for the record books by providing 25 devices to people who need them. We asked Tom Boman, the CReATE coordinator, to tell us more.

You had a record-breaking month. Tell me more about it: were the 25 devices you transferred to clients mostly electric wheelchairs?

There was a variety of mobility devices transferred: five power wheelchairs, one scooter, 14 manual wheelchairs, four wheel walkers (rollators), and a wheelchair carrier.  In past years CReATE has almost exclusively focused on power wheelchairs, but we’ve tried to slowly expand our offerings and it’s worked out much better than we’d expected.

How does this compare to the volume of devices transferred a year ago? Two years ago?

In 2015 we transferred an average of 13.1 devices per month, and in 2014 it was 9.8.  Our 2016 monthly average is 20.4. 

What difference do these devices make to the people you serve? Is there a recent example that stands out to you?

It’s quite common for some of the mobility devices we transfer to almost become an extension of people’s bodies.  It can become part of their identity and an integral part of their independence.   We recently refurbished a power wheelchair for a lady that enabled her to continue her work on a medical assembly production line.  The power seat on her previous chair stopped working and she spent months not being able to change her body position for her 10-hour shifts.  The power wheelchair we worked on for her has power rehabilitation seating that enables her to elevate herself up to the correct height, and to vary her body position throughout the workday to help eliminate fatigue and injury.  Seeing that type of direct impact on people’s lives makes this work very rewarding for all of us.

Have you had to make changes in the shop to do this much more business?

Wow, where do I begin…?  There have been a lot of changes in the past three years I’ve been here.  If you’d seen the shop before then and saw it again now, the thing that would probably strike you the most is the level of organization.  We have more than doubled the warehouse racking and added a lot of special parts racks, storage bins, totes, and cabinets to store all the wheelchair parts.  You’d also probably notice that we have a lot more wheelchairs and other mobility devices packed inside the shop.  There’s just not much open space at all, and we have to resort to storing some devices outside.  We also have a lot more tools than we used to, and we’ve worked hard to keep them organized and readily accessible.   New workbenches with a custom-built wheelchair hoist have also helped us get the devices at a comfortable level for the work we do.  A custom-developed MS Access database has enabled us to consolidate all of the information on our client contacts and the all of the devices we have in inventory.  Finally, and most importantly, is the addition of the eight different volunteers that help us out to the tune of 30-50 hours each week.  Our volunteers are the best, and they make a big difference in what we are able to provide the community.

What role do those volunteers play?

Volunteers are absolutely critical to our work here.  Our ability to provide this level of service is due in large part to them. They come from different backgrounds and offer us their unique perspectives on the challenges that we face here at CReATE.  They help at almost every level of work we do here; from refurbishing complex power wheelchairs to scrapping out wheelchairs to cleaning the shop and organizing parts.  

How could the public help you carry on CReATE’s mission?

We can always use more donated devices and more volunteer help.  We have a lot, but are always in need of more devices and parts to be able to help our clientele.  Their need is constant so ours is as well. Volunteers that willing to return on a regular basis can really help us out.  People can also help spread the word about CReATE.  Occasionally we have clients that cannot cover the cost of our modest service fees and cannot secure funding through normal channels.  If someone would like to help cover those costs, that would not only help our clients but would also help us to “keep the lights on” and to continue to serve the community.