Advantages Of Transport Chairs Over Traditional Wheelchairs

Recent developments have introduced economically sound transport chairs designed specifically for institutional use that are standing the test of time. Less than twenty years ago, hospitals and airports were still using costly standard wheelchairs designed for home use. In the early 1990s, institutions virtually had no widely known alternative to the classic folding wheelchair, which was patented in 1932.

The wheelchair folded for portable use and was indeed ground-breaking for its time, but in more modern times (at least in an institutional setting), this design was working against it. Hospitals had made good use of the standard wheelchairs, which was far better than no wheelchair at all. This was driven home by the fact that wheelchairs often went missing, causing institutions and hospitals to pad their patient transportation budgets upwards as much as 33% to compensate for the number of wheelchairs they anticipated would need replacement due to loss or damage. This padding became habitually built into the budget in an effort to combat being without wheelchair transportation in dire situations.

Since 1994, transportation chairs designed for institutional use have been employed for passenger transport at airports and patient transportation in hospitals. The chairs address the issue of theft in their design. They do not fold at all, and therefore cannot easily fit into an automobile. Furthermore, this passenger chair cannot be deployed by an individual sitting in it--it is not self-propelled, and thus cannot be stolen by someone rolling away in it. The newly designed institutional chair can only be moved by an attendant who pushes it from behind.

The transport chairs come with their own storage rack (similar to shopping cart corrals) into which they stack neatly, taking up one-third of the space of traditional wheelchairs. Once they are nested together in the rack, they can be locked in much the same as bicycles on a bike rack. This is a further deterrent to theft. Finally, unique serial numbers make tracing a lost or stolen transport chair far easier than with traditional wheelchairs.

Unlike the standard wheelchairs of old, the transport chair does not have removable parts; therefore it is less likely to have parts that need replacements. According to parking and transportation services accounts at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Center, to date their entire fleet of 200 chairs have cost them an average of $24 a year since 1994 to maintain. They haven't gone missing and are still in good working condition after 12 years, in spite of the fact that they came with just a 3-year warranty.

If indeed an entire fleet of 200 transport chairs can be accounted for and in good working condition after 12 years, they are standing the test of time--serving institutions effectively by not only serving transport needs, but economic needs as well. A time-tested system eliminates the need to pad an equipment budget to plan for those missing or inoperable chairs. This means that hospitals, airports and other institutions can begin to make other plans for a good chunk of their prior equipment budget.

About the Author:
STAXI is the world's leading nestable transport chair system and the number one wheelchair alternative for hospitals and airports. STAXI's are hard to steal, built to last, simple to use and easy to find. Contact at: info@staxi.com Go To www.Staxi.com

Advantages Of Transport Chairs Over Traditional Wheelchairs

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