An eight-year-old boy, born with no fingers on his right hand, can ride a bicycle without problems – right up to the point when he needs to apply both brakes at once! Remap engineers designed and fitted this “balance bar” that lets him activate both brakes from a single lever.
A diabetic man living alone needed insulin injections four times a day, but could not administer them because of dexterity problems: the pen dispenser required too much pressure and was difficult to keep straight. We produced an aid that holds the dispenser vertical and allows the client to press the plunger with the palm of the hand. Approved by the client’s diabetes nurse and medical team, the device has put an end to broken needles and involuntary blood letting!
Our walking frame stabiliser – see details here – won us a £500 prize at the 2013 Remap national AGM. The prize was sponsored by Park Hill Trust and presented by Remap president Professor Heinz Wolff to South Bucks engineers Les Brown (left) and Roger Allen (right).
A stroke left a lady client confined to an electric wheelchair and with very limited arm movement, especially on her right side. Because she could not see over her shoulder, she had difficulty reversing the wheelchair in the confines of her house without crashing into things. She contacted Remap, and we mounted a cycle mirror onto the wheelchair using the flexible “gooseneck” from a table mounted microphone and a simple clamp. The client can alter the mirror position by simply bending the mounting.
The wheelchair pushchair attachment we made for a disabled mother has aroused interest all over the world thanks to the popularity of our online video. Now another new mum in a similar situation has had her own version produced by an Israeli company, with Remap South Bucks engineer Roger Thorn providing design guidance via email. You can see the new version in action here:
[Please note that Remap cannot currently supply this type of equipment. For availability of similar devices, see here.]
Tim is a father with paralysed legs who looks after his 18-month-old twins on his own during the day. Frustrated that he could only take the twins out in his car, rather than to the park or along local footpaths, he bought a bicycle trailer to be towed using his powered wheelchair.
However, the trailer tow bar was designed to attach to one side of the rear wheel of the bike and was curved to allow a bike to turn freely. To fit the trailer to the wheelchair required a straight pivoting tow bar, which is where Remap came in. We designed and fitted an “upside down” tow hitch at the back of the wheelchair using a quick-release axle pin to lock the tow bar in position. Tim positions his wheelchair so that the trailer tow bar is on his right side, and then has to manoeuvre the tow bar into the socket behind him, which he cannot see. To make this task easier, a golf ball is used as a handle because it is quite tactile and gives good control over the tow bar. Having attached the trailer by feel, Tim clips on a safety strap and away they all go!
A lady with arthritis that restricts hand movement asked if we could help her get out of her house. The problem was that she found it difficult to operate the small latch on the front door. Remap engineers looked at the problem and provided a simple solution: they made the latch bigger by grafting on a screwdriver handle! The client now gets out more.
Ex-Remap volunteer John Harding developed Parkinson’s disease, which made it difficult for him to hold a book or tablet PC steady while sitting up in bed. Undeterred, he built this book/tablet support himself, and has kindly shared the design with us and offered his help in case we need to build one for anyone else. So, if you know someone who needs such a device, please get in touch!
Stroke patients discharged from hospital often suffer from reduced manual dexterity and find it difficult to operate the locks and security devices fitted to their doors when they get home. To help assess whether patients might face such problems, occupational therapists at Amersham Hospital asked Remap to construct a working model of a door, complete with a range of full-sized locks, latches, handles and a door chain. As a result, OTs can now seek pre-discharge assistance from Remap engineers, who can provide individual adaptations before or coinciding with the patient’s return home. The door can also be used in rehabilitation, allowing patients to practice using locks and handles.
A lady with arthritis in her hands could not operate the handle to open her washing machine. The handle as fitted by the manufacturer was very small, and required a robust grip to disengage the latch. As she lives alone, the lady had to ask a kind neighbour to help every time she wanted to use her washing machine. Her daughter called in a Remap engineer, who made a simple extension to the handle and attached it to the original, allowing the lady to open the door herself with ease.
John's Site 