Craigslist Find

We have a loaner power wheelchair for Emma that is not working.  It hasn't worked since we moved and I have not been able to successfully troubleshoot the issue.  I'm not sure if it stopped working right before or right after we moved, but the fact is that it isn't working.  So Emma is not getting any use out of the chair and isn't learning to drive it.  This is soooooo frustrating to me.  I spoke with the fabulous Denise at our wheelchair clinic and she told me she would take a look at it if I can drop it off.  The main hurdle in dropping it off is we don't have a wheelchair van to transport it.  And we didn't have a long ramp to use in lieu of the wheelchair van.

About a month ago I put a Wanted ad on Craigslist for a wheelchair ramp that was at least 7' long.  I sort of forgot about the ad (and kept trying to figure out a way to get the chair serviced!) until I heard from someone who was willing to sell me an almost-new-exactly-the-same-ramp-I-was-eyeing-up-on-the-internet ramp for $100.  This is a great deal since an 8" ramp with an 800lb. capacity cost around $500 new.  The ramp was in two pieces - you can take them apart if you need a narrower ramp - so I had to put it together for our use.  It cost me $0.66 for the screws at Home Depot to put them together.  The only hiccup to the ramp is that the ramp wouldn't go together without the handles in the up position.  I suppose this makes the handles a bit quirky but it doesn't pose a problem for our use.  We now have a ramp that I can use to put the power chair in the van for service and that we can use as a ramp for the back door to our house.  I'm thrilled and hope to drop the chair off at the wheelchair clinic this week.

Here is a photo of the ramp in use at our back door.

I love it when we are able to make something happen for Emma that doesn't break our bank!  I'm looking forward to putting this ramp to good use.