22nd May 2024
The client approached REMAP to ask for help to enable her to play her piano. Post polio syndrome has caused muscle loss reducing mobility and strength in her upper limbs. She used to enjoy playing the piano but loss of motor function meant she could no longer hold her arms up from a seated position to play the keys.
16th May 2024
A folding attachment to allow for extra room on an existing table.
15th May 2024
The client uses her wheelchair all day and required a mounting for her Sky TV remote so she could access TV without help.
12th September 2023
This client has radial dysplasia and her right arm is shorter than her left and she has limited grip strength in her right hand. She has always wanted to ride a scooter or bike but needs an adapter for the handle bars on her right side. She also needs additional assistance with the brake function.
14th August 2023
Penny is unable to bend her left knee and uses both a rollator and wheelchair to aid mobility. Her wheelchair has a commercial leg support to hold her left leg horizontal, but for convenience she wanted to use a Rollz Motion 2, a combined wheelchair and rollator. However Rollz could not supply a leg support.
26th July 2023
Ethan suffered a brain injury at birth causing four limb dystonic cerebral palsy. He is a full-time wheelchair user and has significant difficulties with motor control of his upper limbs. As a result, he does not have access to independent play. He loves ‘fidget’ toys but relies on someone passing him items and struggles to maintain his grasp for long. He enjoys using his left hand to grasp and touch objects.
*****
24th May 2021
To enable physiotherapists to provide a range of upper limb motor skill exercises. This is for patients in hospital, needing to learn or re-learn skills necessary for them to have a greater level of independence. The details of these exercises were established by meetings between the Remap member and physio-therapists at the Southampton General Hospital.
1st April 2021
12th November 2019
Client has had a stroke and is weak on the right hand side. She requires a walker with a fitted crossbar between the handles to assist stability for single-handed use when walking.
28th April 2014
Client suffers from severe short-term memory loss following a motorcycle accident. Fridge and freezer doors are left open and an alarm system to respond to doors left open was requested.
Two identical door sensors and timer alarm systems were supplied. The door sensors were heavy-duty surface contacts type TZ45Y in which the normally open reed switches were changed for the normally closed contacts of type N95BT form C reed switches. The operating range of these sensors is 40mm. The timer units were based on universal timer modules type I-1 (Quasar Electronics), which can be set to give a delay of 1-180sec. in a time out from power-up mode. Packs of 10 rechargeable AA cells were used for providing the 12V supply and a battery charger was provided. Very loud sounders type N15CL were utalised to alarm if a door was left open for longer than 60sec., a battery test button was supplied which sounded the alarm when pressed if the batteries were OK. The sounders gave a very brief beep when a door was opened, this gave confidence that it was working. All part numbers above with the exception of the timer modules, are Maplin components. Circuit diagram, photograph, parts lists and operating instructions are included as separate sheets.
The client can be certain not to leave the fridge or freezer open.
28th April 2014
The client (aged 2 years) sometimes bangs her head without control. She now has a larger cot and the top rails and ends need padding. The padding must stay in place and the straps be tight.
The top rails of the cot were covered in 22mm pipe lagging. The ends of the cot were protected by 25mm foam pads covered in a cheerful, washable plastic fabric and secured outside the ends of the cot with webbing straps.
The client can sleep and play safely in her cot.
28th April 2014
The client is a stroke victim, who uses a set of exercise pedals to exercise his lower legs and ankles. His feet slide out of the pedals. He requires something to restrain his ankles from sliding off of the back of the pedals.
The assembly was supplied with rubber ‘toe clips’ which were attached to the pedals with four screws. Lengths of 38mm wide heavy duty velcro were fitted to the pedals using the four screws. The client was able to fix the lengths of velcro around the back of his ankles and this prevented his feet sliding off the pedals. The velcro was cut to size leaving an extra 50mm tab on the ‘outside’ length’; a 50mm piece of the opposite type of velcro was fixed to these ‘tabs’ to provide a convenient grip to enable the client to undo the velcro after use.
The client can exercise consistently and independently.
28th April 2014
The client has a shower chair that she uses to transfer from her living room to her bathroom. She now needs a commode pan fitting underneath this chair. However, there are no runners or sliders to which a pan could be attached.
Since the shower chair is frequently sprayed with water, the solution to the problem had to be made entirely out of materials which would not rust or corrode.
A plastic commode pan was supplied by the O/T. A frame to hold this pan was constructed from aluminium angle, held together by stainless steel pop rivets. The central rod of these rivets (the end of which remains with the rivet when fixed in situ) is also made out of stainless steel, unlike the case of the more common aluminium pop rivets, where this rod is made of mild steel.
Runners to support this frame were made from aluminium angle, and attached to the side of the shower chair by means of supports which fitted over the chair side rails. These were then clamped together with stainless steel machine screws, thereby tightly gripping the chair sides. Hence no modifications whatsoever (such as drilled holes for attachment screws) were made to the chair.
In use, the pan is inserted into the frame from behind along the runners attached to the chair. The frame is sized so that when pushed forwards as far as it will go, the pan is in exactly the right position underneath the seat. After use, the frame can be pulled backwards to withdraw it. The runners are designed so that the frame can be almost fully withdrawn, but will still be retained by the runners. This allows the carer to then take hold of the frame with both hands, and remove it completely from the chair.
The client can use the toilet without transferring to a plumbed-in toilet.
28th April 2014
The client has poor grip and has requested a cup-holder, mounted at the right height on the arm of her wheelchair so that she can drink comfortably with a straw.
A clamp was cut from a block of aluminium with a pinch screw to clamp it onto the tubular arm of the wheelchair. A 3″ long arm of 1/8″ aluminium was screwed to the clamp. the arm was bent over to form a level tray to which the cup-holder is pop-riveted. The cup-holder was adapted from an obsolete older model.
The client can now drink independently.
28th April 2014
The client has several debilitating conditions including the amputation of her left leg. She is a wheelchair user and needs constant support. She uses a 25 year old Parker bath. She can no longer grip the handles and finds that she slips down the bath. The OT suggested that an extension to the handles would probably solve the problem.
The rubber coverings of the ends of the handles were removed and a wooden rod of exactly the same diameter as the inside diameter of the stainless steel tube that forms the handle was inserted to the fullest possible depth (about 5 inches). The other end of the rod was fitted inside a piece of copper C/H pipe to the extent of about 5 inches. The wooden end was hammered into the exposed ends of the stainless steel tube to leave the copper pipe extending out of the tube. The rubber covers were refitted. It is difficult, without measuring the length of the handle, to see that an extension has been fitted.
The client is going to use the bath and report to the OT how she gets on.
28th April 2014
The client has multiple sclerosis and is no longer able to use his hands and arms. He wishes to continue to use his computer and requires a pointing device.
A SmartNav AT system was purchased by the client. This consists of a ‘camera’ fixed at the top of the monitor and a reflective dot fixed on the bridge of the client’s glasses. The system works by projecting an infrared beam which reflects back from the dot to the camera. Movements of the client’s head move the cursor in the same way as if it was moved by a mouse. Mouse clicking is emulated by the cursor being moved to one of a set of buttons on the screen and held there for a second. The cursor is then moved to the icon or button required to be clicked. There is also an on-screen keyboard which works in a similar way to the click buttons.
http://www.keytools.co.uk/product.php?productid=16254&cat=0&page=1
The client can use his computer independently.
28th April 2014
The Client had a stroke and has severe limitation of the use of her hands. Specifically, she is unable to work the lever that releases the foot rest of her recliner.
A strip of metal was cut to length and bent such that when bolted to the existing operating lever, the user would find the handle further forward, easier to hold and require less effort to use. Two 5mm engineering bolts were used to fix the lever to the operating arm and a wooden drawer handle fixed to the other end. The result is a device that is easier to find and hold, and takes less effort to use.
The client can operate her recliner independently.
28th April 2014
The client had learning difficulties and is paralysed in his left hand and foot. He needed his Tetrapod walking stick handle changing to a ‘Fischer Handle’.
The existing walking stick handle was removed by drilling out a rivet. The second stick with the Fischer handle on it was cut at 100mm below the handle. Both sticks were constructed from aluminium tube and the 100mm of tube beneath the Fischer handle was a perfect fit inside the tube of the existing Tetrapod stick. A 3mm hole was drilled through both thicknesses of tubing just beneath the handle and a self-tapping screw was fitted to solidly hold the handle to the lower part of the stick. The height adjustment of the stick was by means of telescopic tubing which ‘clicks’ into position with a spring-loaded button. The client did not like the slight amount of wobble which this allowed so a further two self-tappers were fitted through these sliding tubes to make the entire stick rigid. The height required from floor to top of the handle was 860mm.
The Client is now able to use a walking stick with a suitable handle.
28th April 2014
A client with cerebral palsy and balance problems would like to ride a bicycle. Normal stabilisers are not secure enough.
The client’s mother initially requested wider stabiliser wheels for the bike, however she later found the ‘Mini-bike converter’ on the internet and this was ordered from ‘Bike Care, March, Cambridge’. The mini-bike converter converts a child’s bike into a trike (trikes are not readily available at a reasonable price at this size). The assembly bolts onto the normal rear wheel fixings of the bike and an adjustable rod also fixes to the bike seat frame bolt. The freewheel sprocket was fitted to the rear wheels axle and the chain was lengthened to suit, (see photographs).
The Client is now able to ride a bicycle/tricycle independently
The client’s mother was advised that when the client grows out of this trike, a pedal operated go-kart could be considered, because of the inherent stability problems of a larger child/adult on a trike.
27th April 2014
The client really enjoys wheelchair dancing. However, since the wheelchair handles are at the rear of the chair, his partner has to stand behind him to push the chair round the dance floor. Some means of enabling the chair to be pushed from the front was required.
A pair of poles was constructed, that could be quickly attached to and removed from the wheelchair. The poles were covered with chrome plated wardrobe rail to give a smooth finish for the partner to grip, and had a rotating wooden doorknob at the top end so that the partner could spin the chair easily during the more difficult dance manoeuvres.
The client can now face his partner while dancing.
27th April 2014
The 60 year old deaf/blind client requested a device that would warn him of head height obstructions when walking.
An ultrasonic proximity detector was mounted on a shoulder saddle and connected to a vibrator fastened to the client’s wrist. Electronic circuitry converts the signal from the sensor to a pulsating voltage that operates the vibrator.
The client is very pleased with the result and is learning how best to take avoiding action when the vibrator indicates that there is an obstruction about a metre from his face.
27th April 2014
This six year old with cerebral palsy is too small to use the toilet seat without help and too heavy to feel safe using a commercially available portable plastic seat.
A wooden toilet seat and cover was purchased. The cover was modified to become a seat by cutting a hole in the cover and rounding the edges to ensure maximum comfort. The existing cover was attached to the new seat and the assembly refitted to the toilet bowl. When the cover is closed the toilet in his bathroom is indistinguishable from a conventional unit.
The little boy can now use the toilet without assistance, boosting his morale and improving his independence. The new seat can be enlarged as he grows, until he is confident to use a standard seat.
12th April 2014
A muscle wasting disease meant this man could not stand without hinged steel braces but these did not fit his wasted legs sufficiently well to prevent backward bowing of his legs.
Heat moulded casts were provided by the occupational therapist. Brass sheet was moulded and secured to these to strengthen and extend them.
He can now sit and stand and is pain free.
2nd April 2014
The client, who is a wheelchair user, anticipated that he would have difficulty in accessing his baby in the cot when she arrived.
A standard cot was modified by first of all raising it on leg extensions, then swinging arms were fitted to the cot side, so that it could be lifted up and rested on top of the cot ends.
The client is now able to move close to the cot and attend to his daughter.
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