Handicap lifts

If you have been using a wheelchair, do you find it difficult moving around in your own home? This is the problem that more than 50% of patients on wheelchairs encounter, according to a 2002 study by the University of California, San Francisco. But for older patients, simple tasks like bathing, getting on or off of the bed, using the toilet, or going around the home can be very difficult, such that they would require assistance at all times.

There are many ways by which you can define a handicap lift. If you will do a search online for handicap lifts, you may find some devices that resemble swings. These are portable transfer aids, as some may call it, and is a very useful device in nursing homes, home car facilities, and hospitals. For one nurse to handle a patient on a wheelchair, the handicap lift can allow him or her to safely transfer the patient from the wheelchair to the bed, car, or bathroom. Very minimal lifting is done, and the patient is secure and safe with the transfer aid. When not in use, the handicap lift folds easily and is compact enough to fit the trunk of a car.

A handicap lift may also come in the form of a stair lift. These are mechanical devices which are mounted onto the steps of a staircase, whether straight or curved. There is a railway or track which a carriage or seat follows as it lifts the patient from one level of the house to another. By use of remote controls, a joystick, or push buttons, one can easily access another level of the house without fear of falling or slipping. This allows patients on wheelchairs to move safely around their home, without having an assistant carry them. According to statistics, more and more homes in America today are having stair lifts installed, and the sales of these devices are estimated to grow by 10% every year.

More commonly, a handicap lift may also be a term used to describe a small elevator made for wheelchairs or patients with walkers or crutches. Some handicap lifts can carry for shorter distances, such as up or down a stage, or for flights of stairs with six steps or less. These wheelchair lifts operate like car jacks, such that no cables or shafts are needed, just hydraulics and electricity. Most schools, theaters, temples, and churches have these handicap lifts for easy access of their visitors.

Some handicap lifts are called home elevators, and they are installed so that wheelchair users can quickly move from one level of the house to another. Most home elevators can be installed as long as there is a minimum of 3 feet by 5 feet space for both floors, so that no shaft will be needed. A wall-mounted track or railway guides the platform or the lift as it moves from one floor to the next. The maximum load for these handicap lifts can be 400 pounds or more.