Linda pushed her husband’s wheelchair to a slot right beside my mothers wheelchair.
“I don’t mean to interrupt. But could I ask you about your mother’s van?”
Linda wanted to take her husband to church. But transferring him into a car was impossible.
“We just moved here last month,” she explained. “When I almost dropped him at home of times, I knew I needed help. ”
We had encountered the same problem and had gone in search of a wheelchair van.
To buy and convert a full size van can cost in the $50,000 range. We hunted for used.
We found a heavy duty van with a wheelchair lift already installed. There more available with a rear end lift but I had wanted one that let Mom sit near the driver. That made the search harder but we finally found one.
Selling Mom’s car had almost covered the cost
I showed our van to Linda. There was a process to the lift. You had to push the left button in set sequences to open the sliding door and get the lift to unfold and lower to the ground. Push the wrong button and the process was reversed. We had to learn the sequence.
“I think I do that,” she said as I pushed buttons to activate the lift cycle.
“You can,” I assured her.
That is, after all, the nature of caretakers. We identify our loved one’s needs and learn to do what it takes.
