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Thanks to everyone who has
written so far- I really appreciate it. I’d be really curious
to know
why PALS who expressed a preference for wheelchair mounting wanted it
expressly
mounted onto their wheelchair. My personal thought had been
that on the whole, most people would be better served by using a rolling
mount.
In addition to what Mary Jean, Kathleen and Joan mentioned, it seems
like
a lot of my former clients needed a lot of help with positioning (being
straightened, lifted up in the chair, tilted back, leaning forward for
pressure
relief…) It was easier to move a rolling mount out of the way in
order to
help with positioning and saliva management. Off
the top of my head, it seemed like this is easier to do when you can just
roll
a rolling mount out of the way… (but again, I could be
wrong….) Another thought- Earlier in
my
career, when it was more difficult to get an eye gaze system, the only
people
who were really getting them were people who truly were at an advanced
stage of
ALS. Now, for a number of different reasons, it’s a lot easier to get
an
eye gaze system. I’m imagining that more and more people who
aren’t
at such an advanced stage will be receiving the system, (and as follows,
maybe
more people will be mounting them onto their chairs?) Just a thought. Thanks to
everyone for their input Margaret
Cotts From:
xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Wright, Amy Hi Margaret, I doubt that this is the trend… Of our advanced stage PALS who are currently using an eye-gaze
system, 7 are wheelchair mounted and 3 are on rolling mounts.
Recently, our patients have verbalized a preference for
wheelchair
mounting when given the option. In some cases, we’ve had to
spend a
considerable amount of time getting the wheelchair mount just right for
calibration accuracy and to ensure that caregivers can easily work around
it or
remove it as needed. We’ve also done quite a bit of
“rigging” with spare mounting parts.
These are folks who, though they may be vent-dependent, are
still
getting out of bed on a regular basis and spend a considerable amount of
time
in their wheelchairs. Since positioning can be problematic when
trying to calibrate, a wheelchair mount seems to offer more stability and
consistency. One patient, who does spend the majority of his day in bed, has
his
wife drive his chair over to him and swing the mount around so that he can
access his system from bed. I’ll be curious to hear your
thoughts! Amy Amy Wright, MCD, CCC-SLP Speech Therapy Coordinator (704) 355-0867 From:
xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Margaret Cotts There is something I’ve been curious about for a
while.- I’ve been thinking about eye gaze systems,
mounting,
and folks with advanced stage ALS. I wanted to take an informal survey - do people think
that
most folks with advanced ALS would generally be using a rolling mount for
an
eye gaze system, or a mount attached to a wheel chair? (I have my own thoughts on what I think most PALS would
be
using, but I thought I would check with the group first ;-) Thanks for your help with this- Margaret Margaret Cotts, MA, ATP DynaVox Technologies & Mayer-Johnson This electronic message may contain information that is
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