Mobility aids: VELA chairs for elderly and disabled

 

The Vela Chairs are a piece of mobility equipment that helps people with different mobility restrictions have a better life, by being able to do different tasks without the help of a carer or loved one.

The Vela chair is ideal for people who have mobility restrictions due to age or due to permanent or temporary health conditions, such as MS, strokes, cerebral palsy, and other types of mobility impairments.

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A VELA chair for the elderly and disabled helps with:

• Better balance makes you want to do more
  When you feel tired, it’s worth sitting down on a safe chair with a brake. This means you can continue your activity without losing your balance.

 

• Safety and security
  You get a chair that you can walk/push around while sitting down. This means increased mobility where you can move around safely at home without fear of falling – and you have two free hands for your task.

 

• Increased independence
  A safe, stable and mobile chair make it easier to get started with, for example, light cleaning and cooking. Getting dressed and visiting the toilet is also more accessible, as the chair supports you, so you can save your strength and make your energy last longer.

 

• Help for standing up
  The chair helps you get up into a standing position. It has an electric lift so that you can get up with minimal effort.

 

 

VELA chairs are mobility aids for the elderly and disabled

One benefit of using a VELA chair as a mobility aid for the elderly or disabled is that it can protect you from falling. You can sit down and walk/push yourself around wherever you want. You can lower the seat height of your chair, so that you can reach the floor with your feet.

This means you can walk the mobility chair around your home. Walk from your kitchen and into your living room, bedroom or bathroom while sitting down. If you want to move from your chair to the sofa, lock the brake on the chair, tilt the armrest to the side and just slide off the chair.

The Vela chair is basically a disability chairs with wheels. It looks like any other chair but can assist you to do daily tasks without much effort.
It’s easy to move around at home, as the chair has smooth-running wheels, so you can ‘walk’/push yourself forward while sitting down in the chair.

Specialist chairs for the elderly: Reach high and low with an electric lift

If you’re looking for specialist chairs for the elderly, this is where you’ll find them.

A specialist chair with an electric lift is for those who are quickly drained of energy. The chair moves up and down at the touch of a button, so you can reach things on the top shelf or at the bottom of the cupboard. It also makes it easier to get the right working height by the oven, and you can sit safely and securely and use both hands.

 

 

An aid that helps you get up easily

The specialist chair helps you with extra support when you need to get up. Simply press the button, and the chair rises so that you can get up safely and securely without straining.

Use a VELA chair as disability equipment for standing up. Simply press the button on the electric disability chair, and the seat rises gently. When the chair brake is engaged, you will feel completely safe and secure while the seat moves up. Let yourself slide forward and end up standing upright in front of the chair. This means the chair helps you to stand up fully – without any effort.

Sit down instead of standing
Fill and empty the dishwasher while sitting down – it’s easy to adjust the seat to a low height and just as easy to readjust it to a normal height.

 

Save your energy by sitting down rather than standing up.

The Vela chair brings independence to people’s lives because it helps the individual glide from room to room, task to task, without the physical effort of getting up. The ability to be able to push the chair with the legs instead of the arms gives the user the freedom to perform tasks that before couldn’t due to the arms having to do the work to get from one point to the other.

 

 

 

Independence chair – a great help when cooking

Our disability equipment can help improve your endurance and balance in multiple situations. It can help you at home, in the bathroom, in the wardrobe or at your workplace. One of the most important things a VELA disability chair contributes to is the feeling of independence.

An independence chair at home is a perfect assistant in the kitchen when you need to reach plates in the top cupboard and a chopping board in the bottom drawer. The chair becomes your help and support, and it saves you a lot of effort staying upright.

Regain your independence with Vela Chairs

With a Vela chair, you or your client can feel independent again. Not only because simply daily task become easier, but also because there is no need for a carer to be present at all times.

The Vela chair also helps the user to have more energy as the stress or fear of falling dissapears.

 

 

For more information about the Vela brand, please head to our partners website: https://www.vela.eu/

Are wheelchair cushions a paradise for microorganisms? Which factors and cushion properties influence this?

There are 5 key characteristics of effective wheelchair cushion design 1, but expert opinions and 90% of wheelchair users found that at least 3 other key characteristics are missing, namely microclimate, ease of use and washability. Washability is particularly important as proper cleaning of a cushion should lead to a reduction in bacterial load. With the introduction of COVID-19 and the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, ensuring proper cleaning and disinfection of reusable medical devices has become increasingly important. Adequate cleaning can also extend the lifespan of a cushion, improve skin health, and control odour. Therefore a literature review is conducted to explore the significance of cleaning and disinfecting wheelchair cushions and to identify factors and cushion properties that influence this process.

Multiple studies have found that wheelchair use increases the likelihood of microbial colonisation of the user 2-4 therefore appropriate cleaning is important. To classify medical equipment Spaulding created criteria in 1970. Medical equipment used on patients is classified into three levels based on infection transmission risk, each requiring specific disinfection methods 5 & 6:

Non-critical items: these items only come into contact with intact skin, such as stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, wheelchairs, and patient beds. Although non-critical items have the lowest classification within the Spaulding Classification, these items play a crucial role in patient care, and research has demonstrated their involvement in pathogen transmission 7.

Semi-critical items: are any items that touch mucous membranes or broken skin, such as endotracheal tubes and laryngoscopes.

Critical items: are items that are going to enter vasculature or sterile tissue, including catheters and surgical instruments.

 

Corresponding with the Spaulding criteria there are 3 different levels of disinfection:

High-level disinfection: This level kills all microorganisms except large numbers of bacterial spores.

Intermediate-level disinfection: This level kills mycobacteria, vegetative bacteria, most viruses, and most fungi, but may not necessarily kill bacterial spores.

Low-level disinfection (LLD): This level kills most vegetative bacteria, some fungi, and certain viruses.

 

Before disinfection, it is crucial to clean medical equipment because pathogens are more likely to survive on soiled surfaces where the soil acts as a protective barrier 8 & 9. According to the Spaulding criteria, wheelchair cushions are categorised as non-critical devices requiring LLD 6.

Non-critical medical devices need cleaning, followed by LLD. Examples of LLD’s include phenolics and iodophors, such as wescodyne, bactergent, hy-sine, ioprep, providone, Hil-Phene, LpH se, Metar, Vesphene, Decon-cycle.

Mohapatra defines disinfection as the process of killing harmful vegetative bacteria and viruses on surfaces and objects, excluding bacterial spores.

They recommend achieving at least a 99.9% reduction in microorganisms (log 3 reduction). However, achieving this can be challenging in some care facilities due to a lack of knowledge about medical device cleaning, tracking systems, and guidelines, which impacts the cleaning 10.

Cleaning the cushion can also be difficult due to the material compositions of the cushion 11-16 (see table 1 on the last page). Foam cushions can not be submerged in water, and therefore can only be wiped with warm water and soap.

Vicair O2 wheelchair cushions are the only wheelchair cushions that are easy machine washable at 60C and can be subsequently sprayed with a disinfectant, without causing any negative consequences.

 

for the cushion performance. Agidens demonstrated that washing Vicair cushions at 60°C reduces the bacterial load by 99.99% 17. This reduction in bacterial load achieved through washing is equivalent to the reduction required for disinfection according to Mohapatra 18, this is achieved without the use of a LLD. (More about the research of Agidens can be found in the one-pager “How effective is washing your Vicair wheelchair cushion?”)

Thus, considering a Vicair O2 cushion is recommended when confronted with (bacterial) soiling, repeated use, or other factors that impact the hygiene and cleanliness of the wheelchair cushion.

 

References

1. Levy, A., Shoham, N., Kopplin, K., & Gefen, A. (2018). The Critical Characteristics of a Good Wheelchair Cushion. In Science and Practice of Pressure Ulcer Management (pp. 17–31). Springer London.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-7413-4_2

2. Martak, D., Gbaguidi-Haore, H., Meunier, A., Valot, B.,

Conzelmann, N., Eib, M., Autenrieth, I. B., Slekovec, C., Tacconelli, E., Bertrand, X., Peter, S., Hocquet, D., & Guther, J. (2022). High prevalence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa carriage in residents of French and German long-term care facilities. Clinical Microbiology and

Infection, 28(10), 1353–1358.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2022.05.004

3. Tu, M. G., Lin, C. C., Chiang, Y. T., Zhou, Z. L., Hsieh, L. Y., Chen, K. T., Chen, Y. Z., Cheng, W. C., & Lo, H. J. (2022). Distribution of Yeast Species and Risk Factors of Oral Colonization after Oral-Care Education among the Residents of Nursing Homes. Journal of Fungi, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8030310
4. Weppner, J., Gabet, J., Linsenmeyer, M., Yassin, M., & Galang, G. (2021). Clostridium difficile Infection Reservoirs Within an Acute Rehabilitation Environment. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 100(1), 44–47. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHM.0000000000001579
5. Rowan, N. J., Kremer, T., & McDonnell, G. (2023). A review of

Spaulding’s classification system for effective cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of reusable medical devices: Viewed through a modern-day lens that will inform and

enable future sustainability. Science of The Total Environment, 878, 1–18.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162976

6. Spaulding, E. (1970). The role of chemical disinfection in the prevention of nosocomial infections. International Conference on Nosocomial Infections.
7. Klacik, S. (2019). ‘Noncritical’ OR items deserve due diligence in disinfection – OR Manager. International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management. https:// www.ormanager.com/noncritical-items-deserve-due-diligence-disinfection/
8. Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health Ontario), & Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee. (2013). Best practices for cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of medical equipment/devices in all health care settings (3rd ed.). Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
9. Werkgroep Infectie Preventie, de Bruyn, A. C. P., van Klingeren, B., & Severin, W. P. J. (2009). WIP richtlijn – Beleid reiniging desinfectie en sterilisatie. www.wip.nl
10. Gardner, P., Muller, M. P., Prior, B., So, K., Tooze, J., Eum, L., &

Kachur, O. (2014). Wheelchair cleaning and disinfection in Canadian health care facilities: ‘That’s wheelie gross!’ American Journal of Infection Control, 42(11), 1173–1177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2014.08.007

11. Cushioning Products by Supracor – User manual – Stimulite. (2018). www.supracor.com
12. Jay Foam Cushion Products User Instruction Manual & Warranty. (2021).
13. JAY J3 Cushion Owner’s Manual. (2017).
14. Jay Xtreme Active Owner’s Manual. (2018).
15. ROHO ® DRY FLOATATION ® Wheelchair Cushions Operation Manual. (2019).
16. Vicair Vector O2 User Manual. (2018).
17. Op De Beeck, J. (2023). Test Report Disinfection Wheelchair Cushion.
18. Mohapatra, S. (2017). Sterilization and Disinfection. In Essentials of Neuroanesthesia (pp. 929–944). Elsevier.

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-805299-0.00059-2

 

 

The skin performs a variety of important physiologic roles including protection from environmental exposure, preservation of internal homeostasis and thermoregulation amongst others. [Gray, 2011]

Moisture-associated skin damage (MASD) pathophysiology is related to both recurrent chemical and physical irritation to the skin barrier, triggering inflammation and subsequent skin damage. Multiple factors have a negative impact on the skin barrier function, including chemical irritants in urine and feces, changes in

skin surface pH, associated microorganisms, repeated skin cleansing activities, an occlusive perineal environment (due to the use of incontinence pads), and mechanical factors such as friction.

Exposure to moisture affects the integrity of the outermost layer of the skin which makes the skin more vulnerable to friction and skin tears. [Bostan, 2019]

Prevention and treatment of MASD include the removal of occlusive conditions, gentle skin cleansing, skin protection, and the application of therapeutic ointments. [Collier, 2016; Lumbers, 2019] However, moisture management at the skin cushion interface should not only focus on personal hygiene but also on moving moisture away from the skin cushion interface. This is due to the fact that support surfaces with a microclimate management function show significantly lower skin hydration levels. [Denzinger, 2020]

Vicair O2 cushions, which have a perforated liner, are effective in moving away moisture from the skin cushion interface. This effect becomes even more apparent when a top cover is used. The dissipation of moisture by the Vicair O2 cushions is so effective, that within 1hr, wet spots appeared on the surface underneath the cushion. [Call, 2016 (unpublished)]

 

CONCLUSION

Wheelchair cushions are often covered with incontinence covers to protect the cushion against moisture. However, prolonged exposure to moisture makes the skin more vulnerable for MASD and pressure injury development. Therefore, the focus should be shifted from protecting the cushion against moisture to protecting the wheelchair user against moisture to prevent MASD and pressure injury development.