Active at Joe Dimagio Special Needs Fair

On Sunday September 28th, Active Mobility Center supported the Joe Dimagio/Memorial Health Care System for the sixth year.  It was a great representation of the community which offers services to the special needs community.  There were groups from Hospitals, Therapy Centers, Respite, Day Training Programs, Home Accessiblity, Financial Services, local support groups/services and ofcourse the Pirates and Mermaids. 

We saw many of our loyal customers and referral sources.  It was a great time.


Carey Britton, is the seating specialist with Active Mobility Center. He can be reached at (954) 946-5793 or cbritton@wheelchairguys.com.

Standing with Standers.....Training at Active Mobility Center

Benay Britton and Joe Navarro

This week, Benay Britton, from Active Mobility Center presented on Standing Equipment for people with mobility impairments.  Benay led the presentation saying that anyone not independently standing, and who has a mobility challenge needs to be standing. 

Benay clearly noted that anyone requesting a Standing device needs to be cleared by their physician and issued a prescription for standing.  Many people have skeletal and tendon/ligament limitations that may be aggravated or injured.

She went on to say that there are many benefits of standing from

• Builds Cardiovascular Endurance
• Improves Respiration
• Normalizes Bowel Function
• Improves Urinary Drainage
• Improves Motor Function
• Reduces the Risk of Pressure Sores
• Decreases Abnormal Muscle Tone
• Increases Circulation
• Maximizes Weight Bearing on Long Bones
• Increases Bone Density
• Increases Range of Motion

All of these helps reduces the negative affects of sitting in a wheelchair, scooter, powered wheelchair or bed.

There are many types of standing devices and they come in pediatric through adult sizes. The main types of standers are Prone, Supine, Upright and Sit to Standers. These systems come in manual or powered operation. The Prone/Supine standers come in fixed angle standers or tilt table standers. The fixed angle systems are generally for small children that are easy to transfer and where a specific angle is desired by the physician/clinician.  In many cases, it takes time to achieve more upright standing, and where an adjustable table stander is used in either prone or supine. These larger tilt tables allow the caregiver to be loaded on a flat table and then adjusted to the angle of standing tolerated or prescribed.

As the user becomes heavier and taller, transferring can be more difficult and using a table type stander. Additionally these tables for adults become very large and the user's environment may not accommodate the footprint. 

The Sit to Stand systems offer a smaller footprint, and allow for easier transfers for larger users.The

sit to stand systems can be used from sitting through standing and can be operated by the user themselves.  There are emerging studies that show increased benefits to bone density going from sit to stand. The drawback to the sit to standers is that they place force through the knees to achieve standing, and where the user needs to be able to tolerate this pressure

There are several manual and powered wheelchair standers that are commercially available. For many people standing affects their vocation, their ability to cook, access the home and interact with people.  Many times the need to stand cannot wait until one transfers into a separate standing device. 

What's Required from Insurance for Funding?

Like all Medical Equipment, a Prescription from a physician, explaining the need for standing, and most insurances now require a clinician to perform a specialty evaluation. The clinician may be a physiatrist (physical medicine doctor), a physical or occupational therapist.  These clinicians will perform a functional assessment which will determine whether a stander is medically necessary, and which type/orientation is most appropriate.  Many times it can require trialing equipment to determine what is most appropriate. Today, an ATP (Assistive Technology Provider), or SMS (Seating and Mobility Specialist) can help make recommendations once the user has been cleared for standing.

Who Funds Standers?

Technically any insurance should if medically necessity is established; however Benay explained that Medicare is very difficult to achieve approval. She explained that Medicaid, Vocational Rehabilitation, Worker's Compensation and most Private Insurances do approve these items.  Benay further explained that many insurances look at Standers and Gait Trainers as same or similar equipment, so when discussing options with one's physician and clinician; ensuring the most appropriate equipment is being provided.  Typically like all DME, there is a five year life expectancy on this equipment by the insurance provider.

This article was written by Carey Britton, Seating and Mobility Specialist for Active Mobility Center, and Complex Rehab and Assistive Technology Provider in South Florida. Carey can be reached at (954) 946-5793 or at cbritton@wheelchairguys.com .

Buying Locally is it Important?

As a consumer, we all wrestle with the decision on whether to make a purchase locally or from a catalog or from a website. Many times you can get a lower price from a catalog or website, but sometimes at a huge cost.

If you are in the market for a book, Amazon is the leader; not only because of the price, but because of the selection. It only takes a few times of going to a local book store and not finding what you are looking for and are told they can special order it for a premium; that you become an Amazon Fan.

There is a trend of people shopping on line for medical equipment. The reason many times, is that a local brick and motar company is more expensive than the catalog or on line company. As a consumer I understand that every dollar needs to go farther these days; but also understand that when buying equipment that needs service and support I need someone in my corner when there is an issue.

I receive regular phone calls from customers asking me to repair their equipment, to modify equipment that they bought on-line or to take their on-line equipment as a trade when they find out it doesn't work for them. 

Although the mission of Active Mobility Center is to help the community, we have had to make tough decisions on how to best service our customers. This is a trend in the Medical Equipment industry; as when a customer calls and asks us to put tires on their wheelchair that they purchased on line to save a few dollars, or wants us to consult them on how to fix, or modify a chair they purchased online cheaper that doesn't fit.  Most companies have adopted the policy that they didn't provide the equipment than they do not service it.

Not to sound uncaring, but the costs to operate a medical equipment company are tremendous. Like other brick and motor companies, there are the standard operating costs. Unlike many of these other companies, medical equipment companies have additional insurance, accreditation fees, yearly fees to work with Medicare, required continued education of staff, contstant retraining of staff to the changes in the industry and with insurance, and much more. 

To spend time with those customers who do not patronize the local provider takes valuable time and resources from the firm's loyal customers; and the key to keeping customers is ensuring their needs are met.

Your local medical equimpent company provides the valuable services of their knowledge, their experience, and their network.  This experience and available follow up service/support is what you pay extra for; and to ensure your local support will be there when you need it. Because they are local, they have to be the expert to keep people coming back, they need to have a network so when you have a question or problem, they can recommend a person or place to solve your issue.

Please contact Carey Britton at cbritton@wheelchairguys.com with any questions or comments, he can be reached at 954-946-5793.