Tag: wheelchair

When the architectural plans for Sheltering Arms Institute were being drawn up, we ensured with input from patients, families, and team members that physical space was dedicated to a robust in-house wheelchair clinic to provide specialty services related to patients’ seating and mobility needs.

“I worked on VCU Health’s spinal cord injury unit for more than a decade, fell in love with wheelchairs, and realized how important they can be to the success of somebody long term,” said Megan Murphey, PT, DPT, ATP, NCS, Assistive Technology Specialist, who leads the clinic.

Megan’s knowledge and passion for assistive equipment and technology is evident in her interactions with patients and their loved ones, just ask Laura Grosvenor whose son Hayden spent five weeks at the Institute due to a Guillain-Barré syndrome relapse.

“Megan took the time to explain all the pieces and how they worked, how to take apart the wheelchair, and how to maintain the cushion,” said Laura. “They took care of all the details involved in ordering a custom wheelchair and we were thankful to have a loaner to go home with.”

Patients are referred to our wheelchair clinic by their primary therapy team to determine what kind of device they need, whether it is a power chair, a manual chair, or something in between. The clinic team, including complex rehabilitation technology vendors, then constructs a demo chair to discover what works best for each person.

The clinic is stocked with a wide array of brands and types of equipment, including frames, wheels, cushions, backrests, brakes, and more, in addition to new technologies like sensors.

“We believe in try before you buy, so we meet with patients on a weekly basis to check in, tweak things, and make sure that everything is right, or to switch things out so that patients can try different components,” Megan explained. “We’re enhancing recovery efforts by making sure that people are as mobile as possible, no matter what that looks like, and providing them with what’s optimal and not just an off-the-shelf product.”

Based on how a patient is progressing in therapy, equipment adjustments are made to reflect functional changes. In Hayden’s case, he moved from a full power chair to a power-assist manual chair during his stay. Appointments at the clinic also include patients’ family members and caregivers to provide education and training on how to get the chair in and out of a car, for example.

Once the loaner chair is optimally configured, the vendor pre-screens each patient’s insurance before ordering a custom chair. “If the insurance company denies something that we think they should approve, we will go through an appeal process and really fight to make sure that people get the equipment they need,” Megan added.

The volume of referrals to the wheelchair clinic proves the need for this service. In 2021, 365 patients were referred to the wheelchair clinic by their care teams.