A letter from one of our customers

What kind of service can you expect from Rollin’ Along? Let one of our customers tell you with her own words!

“Dear David,

When I called you this evening, it was because of a “beeping” I was hearing, which I thought was coming from my chairlift. I was concerned because I thought perhaps the battery was low.

You very diligently and patiently had me check each contributing part of the lift to make sure the “beeping” wasn’t coming from the lift. And it wasn’t! We found that indeed, the “beeping” is originating from my ceiling fire alarm. Of course this comes as a relief, and I thank you so much for your very kind and attentive assistance.

What you did for me was “above & beyond” and I’ll never forget it!

Thanking you again,
Marjorie Davidson”

View more customer stories here

Rollin’ Along is now C11 Certified

By Rollin’ Along

We are excited to announce that Rollin’ Along has completed the necessary testing to become C11 Certified. This means we are licensed to work with businesses to install commercial low rise elevators to help your customers achieve maximum mobility at your commercial property.

Interested in a commercial lift installation? Contact us today!

View our CCCM and CQCC licenses below:

Certified Competent Conveyance Mechanic - Rollin Along, San Francisco CA Certified Qualified Conveyance Company - Rollin Along, San Francisco CA

Deadly Rain

By dalincer

I love the rain but getting rained on while on my scooter is deadly. Not deadly for me but definitely for my scooter. It never fails, we have a rain storm, and we at Rollin’ Along get a call “My Power wheelchair / scooter won’t work. I got caught in that rain.”

Electric wheelchairs and scooters have electronics! Electronics, water and dirt don’t play together, and when you add a little electricity from the batteries they react like a bomb … they blow things up and those things are the electronic boards on your equipment. Sometimes you can even hear the sizzle, pop and smell the burning of the boards and wires. It may not happen on the rush back home to get out of the rain it may happen when you plug in the charger…that snap, crackle and pop is NOT your cereal! There goes a minimum of a $200.00 board or worse a $1200.00 joy stick. No joy there. Accidentally spilling a soda just adds sticky sugar syrup to the snap, crackle, and pop.

If you do get caught by a rain shower seek immediate cover, disconnect the batteries and get a ride home. Wipe off all visible liquid. Do not run the equipment use the free wheel lever and push. Do not plug in the charger. Allow the power chair or scooter to dry out naturally.

Comical or Tragic?

By dalincer

At a recent party I had a discussion (actually the second) with a family friend, Mark about taking care of himself as he cares for his Mother Sue. I just do not understand why anyone thinks they can pick up another person safely.

Just because they have a brain, does not mean that they are ‘lighter’ than a 50# bag of dog food. What I mean is that because the person can ‘help’ they therefore weigh less. This works until one of us stumbles and the whole 110# lands on the caregiver.

Sue was in a wheelchair, and as they were leaving the party 2 grown men bounced her down a few steps; while one man made sure the wheelchair didn’t roll down the driveway, the other picked Sue up and plopped her into their car. Picture this in the dark and under raining skies… comical or tragic. This time nothing went wrong “comical”.

We have heard so many stories where tragedy struck sending the caregiver to the hospital leaving no one to care for the patient. Even with our stories, Mark feels resistant to getting equipment (like a simple ramp) that would make Mark’s life easier and safer. We have dubbed this “Resistance to Assistance”.

I just don’t get it.

#ResistanceToAssistance

We have seen it for years…

By David Lincer

We have seen it for years… Spouses getting injured enough to land them in the ER, all while “helping” their loved one get out of bed or out of a favorite chair.. The injuries in hospitals among nursing staff i, nursing homes, and other care facilities have had the highest workman comp claims for years. More than Firefighter, deep sea fishers, and loggers combined. Yes combined!

The United States has been so many years behind the European countries that require mechanical assistance for patience’s over 25 kilos (about 55 pounds). However finally I have come across an online article stating ”The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will announce Thursday (June 25^th, 2015) that it’s going to crack down on hospitals, for the first time ever, to prevent an epidemic of back and arm injuries among nursing employees.

Yet I still see people picking up people weighing 100 pounds or greater regularly. According to the article “OSHA’s staff is so small compared to its mission that OSHA officials estimate it would take 100 years to inspect every workplace in the nation just once.”

So what can you do?

David has always said “one is ok two is too many”. He is referring to the number of arms you use to help. One arm is ok to use when helping someone up but using two arms is too many, you risk for injury is just enormous. It is an involuntary reaction to try and catch someone that is falling. Believe me when I say that the caregiver will always be hurt significantly more that the patient who is actually falls.

At 97 years old my Dad became frail. He weighed only 130 pound, but I could not pick him up. When he sat in the “wrong chair” got stuck and couldn’t get up by himself we made adjustments. The first was installing a safety bar at the toilet, which gave him just enough oomph so he could get himself up. The safety bars in the shower were already installed because I fell in the shower and passed out; I woke about the same time the paramedics arrived. Luckily I only dislocated a finger and bruised in several places.

As my Dad became stuck in more places and more frequently we used a floor standing patient transfer lift. It picked him up using a sling and a push of a button on my end. At that point I could place him in a chair that he could get out of. At the very end of his life he was bedridden; we used the transfer sling and lift to change him and to change his bedding. Caring for a loved one is stressful enough, a painful back injury for me my sister or any of the caregivers unacceptable!