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helping disabled up stairs | |||||||||||||||||
my idea is for a motorized step raiser that can be placed at the base of a communal stairway,3ft wide, 12 steps. it would raise someone standing to the height of the next step on which a 2nd raiser is in place. by alternating them, my partner who is housebound with a spinal condition, could be helped with my assistance, up and down the stairs and sit outside for a while. a stairlift cant be fitted - against h/s regs. evacuation chairs terrible for the back. moving to ground floor not something can do. any views on this idea and how to achieve it? or any other ideas? something that isnt a fixture - can be put in place.thanks.
bill65, Apr 21 2009
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I think I get your idea. You could have two lifters that can raise up maybe a foot or so. To go up, you place one lifter on the floor in front of the stairs and the other lifter on the first step. The person then gets on the first lifter, which then rises up to where it's even with the lifter on the first step. Then the person moves forward onto the second lifer(on the first step). Then, an assistant (you) moves the first lifter (from the floor) and places it on the second step. The second lifter rises until it's even with the lifter on the second step and they move forward onto it. The cycle repeats until they're at the top. The same process can be used in reverse to bring them down. Instead of moving the lifters, you could have twelve lifters and just leave them on the stairs all the time, provided you are allowed to do that. If your plan is different, please explain it.
I think this could work, provided the patient can stand for the rather long time necessary. It might be possible for this to be done using a rolling chair. Not a regular wheelchair, which would be too big to fit on a step, but a small, narrow chair designed to fit on the lifters. The only real problem I can foresee would be that it might be tricky and dangerous balancing the patient on the narrow lifters. It depends a lot on the size of the stairsteps, and also on the capability of the patient.
For power, it could use electric motors and an extension cord. I don't know of any ready-made device that would perform as described. It would need to be small and light. Ideally it would have a platform that sits flat on the ground when down. For that, the motor would need to be on the side rather than under the platform. A scissor lift could work, though it wouldn't sit entirely flat on the ground. However, I don't know if you could find one the right size. Maybe a manufacturer would be willing to build a custom sized one for you, but it might be expensive.
See http://arthritis.about.com/cs/assist/a/stairclimbwc.htm
It describes a stair climbing wheelchair.
Hello,may I suggest that they just stay downstairs maybe build a room for them to stay down??? or hydraulics or screw drive I don't know.