South Bucks volunteers celebrate 50 years of transforming disabled people’s lives

The past 50 years have seen the lives of over 100,000 people with disabilities — including children, parents, athletes, ex-service people, and those who have retired — transformed by local volunteers of the national charity Remap, who have built equipment to help these individuals lead independent lives.

The charity, which is celebrating its 50^th birthday this summer, now works in 80 local branches across the UK. It counts professional engineers, craftspeople, technicians and health professionals among its army of 6,000 volunteers who have devoted their time and expertise to turning around the lives of individuals affected by disability.

The volunteers carry out a full consultation with each client to understand their specific needs. Using this information they design and build bespoke equipment, or adapt existing equipment, enabling the individual to overcome challenges in undertaking everyday tasks and activities — providing solutions to problems that cannot be answered by commercially available equipment.

Tim, from Waddesdon, Bucks, is a father with paralysed legs who looks after his young 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 for twins that he intended to tow using his powered wheelchair. However, the trailer was only designed to attach to one side a bicycle. Remap designed and made a special pivoting tow bar to fit it safely to the back of the wheelchair, and away they all went. Further details and video at http://www.remap-southbucks.org.uk/2013/05/15/wheelchair-trailer-attachment-for-twins.

Roger Thorn, who made the trailer attachment, has been a volunteer with Remap South Bucks for five years. He says: “Throughout my engineering career I’ve always enjoyed coming up with new ideas and making things. It’s very uplifting to be able to solve people’s problems and help them to live fuller and more independent lives.”

Adam Rowe, Chief Executive Officer of Remap, commented: “Remap has been transforming lives for 50 years based upon selfless support from our volunteers. Every piece of equipment enables people to try and undertake everyday tasks or help them achieve their ambitions. I look forward to the next generation of volunteers signing up to volunteer with us to continue changing people’s lives.”

Press release: Remap helps paralympian Derek Derenalagi

Charity Remap helps disabled athlete Derek to “Go for Gold”!

34-year-old Derek Derenalagi lost his legs in 2007, when the Landrover in which he was travelling in Afghanistan was blown up by an anti-tank mine. He was in a coma for nine days at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, but 15 months later he was at the US national Olympic Training Centre near San Diego, chosen as one of six members of the British armed forces to develop their sporting prowess by spending a week at a training camp in California. He was picked by Major Martin Colclough, a British Army fitness instructor, who was looking for people with not only sporting ability but also a strong mental attitude.

On Tuesday, May 8, 2012, Derek, who is a real medal prospect, will participate in the qualifying stage for the London 2012 Paralympic Games discus competition and a simple piece of equipment – a bespoke lightweight adjustable throwing frame which Derek sits on/secures himself to – designed in Buckinghamshire by volunteers of the charity Remap, may make all the difference.

As Remap’s Chief Executive Officer, Susan Iwanek explained: “Remap is a wonderful and inspiring charity that is made up of 80 groups (panels) around England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The majority of our volunteers have an engineering background, love to solve problems and invent items that often change people’s lives.”

She continued: “Last year I went with Les Brown, one of our trustees, to meet Martin Colclough and discuss whether Remap could get involved with disabled ex-servicemen and make special equipment for them to help them take part in high-level sport. As a result we were contacted by Alison O’Riordan, Derek’s trainer at Sport England, and she requested the piece of equipment that Remap has now made to help Derek try for a medal. One of our volunteers, Roger Thorn, devised a simple piece of equipment – a frame with a seat – that Derek can easily put together himself within the allocated timescale.”

Roger said: “I was amazed at the energy that Derek produced when throwing the discus and knew that we would have to design a very strong but lightweight frame. The frame has to be secured to the ground with four adjustable straps and Derek has to be secured to the frame with two seat belts. In competition, Derek and an assistant only have a limited time to set up his frame and secure Derek to it. In addition to this, the frame has to be portable and light enough to allow Derek to take it with him when flying to international events.”

Fijian-born, Derek, who now lives in Hertfordshire, said: “I love the frame. When I win a medal I want everyone to know that Remap helped to make it possible. They’ve done a marvellous job for me.”

Les Brown, Remap trustee and chairman of the charity’s South Buckinghamshire Panel, has also been heavily involved in the project and is talking to Help for Heroes and Battle Back, the Ministry of Defence’s rehabilitation programme for wounded soldiers at Headley Court in Surrey, where Derek spent five weeks. Les said: “I am delighted how Remap has been able to help Derek. We were invited to watch him at a special workshop for seated throwers at Lee Valley Stadium at the end of March, and as a result of this we are very excited that we have been given three other athletic projects.”

This short video clip shows Derek practicing his throws

Press release: Pushchair adaptor helps disabled mum

Pushchair adaptor helps disabled mum take her baby out in a wheelchair

[Please note that Remap cannot currently supply this equipment. For availability of similar devices, see here.]

A mother with a spinal cord injury is living independently at home with her new baby, with the help of a wheelchair-pushchair adaptor built by Remap South Buckinghamshire, a charity that designs and makes customised equipment for people with disabilities.

Cheryse Wandslyte was involved in a car accident during pregnancy, in which she sustained a cervical spinal cord injury affecting the strength and movement of her arms and legs. This makes it difficult for her to walk over distance, so that she has to use a wheelchair for mobility. Despite the severity of Cheryse’s injuries, her baby girl was born healthily in Stoke Mandeville Hospital five months after the accident.

Cheryse was now faced with the dilemma of how to care for her new baby upon discharge from hospital—in particular, how to carry and look after the baby when out and about in a wheelchair. Nicola Carrig, an occupational therapist (OT) at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, asked the local branch of Remap if they could help. The agreed solution was for Cheryse to find an off-the-shelf lightweight pushchair with a strong enough frame to be pushed using a manually operated wheelchair, and for Remap volunteers Roger Thorn and Roger Allen to design and build a safe, effective attachment mechanism.

The two Rogers’ pushchair adaptor consists of two purpose built aluminium spurs that snap on and off mountings on the wheelchair. The braked rear wheels of the pushchair are lifted off the ground during attachment, so steering is controlled directly from the wheelchair. The adaptor enables the pushchair to tilt up and down, allowing Cheryse to navigate up and down dropped kerbs. Because the pushchair is detachable, it can be still be pushed as normal by family and friends; the mounting spurs also detach easily so the pushchair can be collapsed to fit in the boot of a car.

Because Cheryse has impaired right hand functionality—also the result of the accident—Remap refined the initial prototype loading and anti-detachment mechanism so that Cheryse can attach and detach the pushchair easily using only her left hand.

According to Cheryse, the pushchair adaptor was “a lifesaver” in allowing her to live independently. “It’s marvellous: I can take the baby out on my own, without needing carers. It’s a simple design that I can use easily despite my hands not being brilliant. The Remap people have been nice to talk to and very good at working out what was needed.”

OT Nicola Carrig said: “Remap is quite well known at Stoke Mandeville. They are enthusiastic, proactive, helpful, knowledgeable and discreet. They listened carefully to what Cheryse wanted and she is thrilled with the result.”

Cheryse is now working as a volunteer in patient support at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and is making a good recovery from her injuries.

Remap South Bucks welcomes requests from healthcare professionals, social services and carers for help in providing customised equipment for people with disabilities. It also welcomes volunteers prepared to give some time designing and building such equipment.