#Fun4thedisabled’s Vanessa Harris visits 101 Mobility Chicago and talks to Nick Lopez and Debra Mills about their services and products.
Fun4thedisabled: 101 Mobility Chicago is one of the best disability service companies that people reach for in the Chicago area. They can have a wheelchair ramp, or stairlift installed within hours of initial contact. I’m here with Deborah Mills and Nick Lopez, who work at 101 Mobility in Elgin, Illinois. Welcome to fun4thedisabled!
Nick Lopez: We tell people we are a company based on helping people. Okay, so we do that by being a one stop shop for all things accessibility. So we provide accessibility solutions like: wheelchair ramps; stair lifts; home elevators; and portable patient lifts. And we do this through working directly with clients. We’ll meet with them at their homes. We’ll provide solutions. And we provide customer care in the back end, as well. Once we provide a solution we’re there for the families, moving forward, because obviously they’re going to need to be cared for. Situations change all the time.
And we’ve been doing this for six years. So we’re going into our seventh year. And when we started, we started originally with working with the VA. We’ve expanded out talking with people non-VA retail clients, and we provide solutions again like stair lifts and ramps. Not only for purchase but rental as well.
This is a unit that we showcase at trade shows. We call it a battery operated stair climber. It’s called a LIFTKAR. There are two kinds, one that has a unit as a built in seat, and one that they can attach to an existing wheelchair. This is how this unit works. A person who happens to sit down and the unit. And I can transfer the person around, as I as I need over like a regular stairlift. I’m sorry, it operates like a wheelchair. So if we come to stairs. The able- bodied caregiver just has to make sure that they are angling the LIFTKART up the stairs. So then I’m just using a button to control the unit. Yeah, and I just kind of set myself up for the next step, all the way back to the next riser. And it has a built in brake so the brake is essentially preventing me from just rolling off the edge (of the stair). So if you notice the tires down here, the brake kind of engages at the bottom. What I do is is kind of just maintaining this angle. So when I’m ready to go down, I go to the edge of this step like it is now. When I press the down button, I push it to the edge.
Debra Mills: He can’t dump me, unless he really wants to!
Fun4thedisabled: You supply services and equipment, not only to residents, but also to businesses.
Nick Lopez: That’s correct.
Fun4thedisabled: Okay so can you tell me about the businesses as well?
Nick Lopez: Sure. So in many cases we will be called by businesses that may have a need for an example, during the summer. We were called by a lot of park districts. Park districts have pools, and there is a law as of 2012 , an ADA law that states that anywhere there’s a public pool setting, without a lift that those public settings need a lift to assist person in and out of the pool. And so that’s a state law. In fact, it’s a federal law, across the country. And so as communities and smaller park districts, begin to realize that they do need lifts for their pools if they don’t have one. This is a case for instance where businesses, park districts will call. We recently installed pool lifts for the city of Chicago Park District, we installed about 16 of them. So, and that’s a that’s a case for a business requiring a solution to assist people with needs.
Debra Mills: I used to be a caregiver, so it’s nice to have the background I had to teach other caregivers. Most accidents with caregivers, is because they’re lifting patient out of a chair or getting them into a tub. So to let them know that we have products that exist like the Shower Buddy. This is a chair that slides over the tub so they don’t have to stand up, lift themselves to get into the tub and get out of the tub. And again, the experience for my friend Tina, who had ALS she couldn’t use her legs. I had no idea, Shower Buddy was available. I could slide her over the commode; into the tub; tilt her; give her a complete shower; bring her back; and then get her dressed.
Nick Lopez: The nice thing about this chair is that’s got a built in commode and It’s got a tilt device on it as well. And then this is somebody be tilted for whatever reason-, ntilation. Ok. So the nice thing about this is that if I’m in the bathroom situation , this unit would actually be over the tub. This is kind of like the intention, the side of the bridge here. So I would bring this unit to the tub area. I would lock it; come to the front; I would unlock it here. Again while the person is here. I am able to slide them over locks right in place, right in the tub area.
Debra Mills: There’s hoyer lifts that we rent out. There are so many products out there again, it’s just making people aware that there are products out there that other people don’t know exist. And there’s for Vanessa. We love Vanessa! We love your website, too. (https://fun4thedisabled.com)
Fun4thedisabled: Thank you very much! And thank you for inviting me to 101 Mobility!
Debra Mills: Oh, you’re welcome. We’re so glad that you were able to come out and much love to everybody!
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