What happens when an orthopedic surgeon becomes his wife's caregiver? Dr. Robert Pedowitz

What happens when an accomplished orthopedic surgeon becomes a caregiver for the person he loves most?

In this heartfelt episode of The Medical Equipment World & Healthcare: Get the Scoop!, Tara Slaughter, CDME (BOC), sits down with Dr. Robert Pedowitz, a retired board-certified orthopedic surgeon and orthopedic sports medicine specialist, to discuss his journey from physician to family caregiver after his wife, Loraine, was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Drawing from both his professional expertise and personal experience, Dr. Pedowitz shares how caring for his wife changed his perspective on mobility, comfort, positioning, safety, and quality of life. He also discusses the importance of individualized seating evaluations and why selecting the right positioning chair became an important part of Loraine's care.

Whether you're a family caregiver, healthcare professional, therapist, nurse, physician, or someone helping a loved one navigate mobility challenges, this episode offers valuable insights into making informed equipment decisions that prioritize dignity, comfort, and quality of life.

In This Episode

•  Dr. Pedowitz's distinguished orthopedic career 
•  Transitioning from physician to caregiver 
•  Younger-onset Alzheimer's disease and caregiving 
•  Why proper seating and positioning matter 
•  The importance of individualized equipment evaluations 
•  Improving comfort, safety, and quality of life 
•  Advice for families making mobility equipment decisions 

Learn More

🌐 CFS Medical Supplies & Equipment
 www.cfsmedicalequipment.com

🌐 CFS Solutions DBS
 www.cfssolutionsdbs.com

📱 Download the FREE CFS Medical Supplies & Equipment App (Apple & Google)

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello everyone and welcome back to the medical equipment world and healthcare gives us go, the podcast where we break down the door of medical equipment, patient care, and the real world solutions for caregivers, families, and healthcare professionals. I'm your host, Carla, with CFS Medical Medical Equipment, CFS Solutions, and I'm your certified medical equipment specialist. And my co-host is not here today, and that will be silent. So did you guys know I'm only claiming the information shared in this publicational and information departments only and it's not into independent medical funding, professional public regarding any medical deployment or something like that, but my body project maybe something and then the mummy is going to climb up and went a month for one of our cousin channels. And so we just thought it would be really good to have him on today to just kind of share his background um and what he does and how this ties in with you know caretaking and uh things of that nature. So, doctor, thank you for being here today. And I know you're busy, so I appreciate you taking your busy time to be on the medical equipment world at the scoop.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

You're very welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Oh, awesome. Awesome. So, uh doctor, can you kind of like just tell the audience just to give us a little stimul about your background really quick here?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Sure. Um, I'm a retired orthopedic surgeon. I did um orthopedic sports medicine as my subspecialty, which means arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder and knee primarily. Um I was in academic practice for my whole career. So used to, before I retired, used to operate and see patients in the clinic and teach residents and fellows and a fair amount of research and publication and some administrative work and leadership. So that's my um sort of professional background. Um and uh yeah, so happy to be here. But that's that's not what uh caused me to get familiar with the broda chairs, not because I'm an orthopedic surgeon.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yes. So you know what, with the broda chair, can you share with us a little bit of information on why did you decide to choose the broda chair and what made you go towards the Broda chair uh for your um for Miss Lorraine?

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Yeah, so so my my wife um has late-stage Alzheimer's disease. Um, she is now uh about 66, and so she was diagnosed when she was in her late uh 50s or at 60. Um but she started to have symptoms quite a few years ago. Um her mother um had Alzheimer's as well. So we went through that journey with her mom going from independent to very dependent living, and then she eventually passed away from Alzheimer's disease. So I think the combination of the um perspective that I had from the experience with my mother-in-law and then Lorraine's progression, um, when I realized how important it was to at this stage in Lorraine's progression, get uh proper seating for her because she's having a lot of trouble um ambulating at this stage. Yeah. And um what specifically sparked the need for the chair was unfortunately um shortly after going into a memory care facility, she tripped and broke her ankle. So she had to have a solution for ambulation uh from that. And then I was thinking about what the ultimately best solution would be for her predicting what her needs were going to be uh down the road.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Exactly. Yeah. And so the broda was able to come in and do what it does, you know. And I what I love about the broda, because I know I get people always ask me, like, what do you think about these other chairs? And I'm like, you know, well, it depends on what's going on with the patient. That's technically what it boils down to. And but our go-to is always the brota because we've seen how it's transitioned patients and their comfort and the things in their with, even though they don't have mobility, just the fact that they're able to get out of uh their bed and be able to get into a broda that's going to give them that comfort that they need and that positioning to be able to do the activities that they need to do with their loved ones still, going out and about and being comfortable while doing so.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

So that's great.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Well, you know, and I I what struck me um particularly when my wife came back from the hospital, she didn't have surgery, but she was in a big boot and they didn't want her to put weight on her foot. Um, but she was in an area at the facility where there were a lot of people in wheelchairs. Um and um I was observing what was brought for her as a sort of a temporary rental wheelchair and what other people were sitting in. And it really struck me how um uncomfortable those standard wheelchairs are. And I, you know, I was uh trying to imagine if if I was a person sitting in a wheelchair for you know six, eight, ten, twelve hours, fourteen hours a day, you know, it would be very, very uncomfortable and unpleasant to sit in just sort of the old-fashioned wheelchairs. And and my observation was that was the majority of the people. But the the problem specifically for dementia patients is they may act fidgety and they may seem like they just want to get up and wander, but if they're uncomfortable, they may not be able to say that. And so they're expressing discomfort by getting agitated. And so I was making my own observations that that was really what was going on. Uh and that's what drove me to to um research and try to find a better, more comfortable, more durable solution for life, you know, and I think that that kind of approach and philosophy is relevant to many other patients outside of Alzheimer's disease. It's you know, this is I think germane to discussions of people with spinal cord injuries or neurologic diseases, you know, you can name a very there's a very long list of reasons why people would potentially have to be in wheelchairs, cerebral palsy and children. You know, the list goes on and on and on. But um regardless of who needs to be in a wheelchair for a long time, comfort is is critically important and positioning. So you know, I I did my due diligence, and that's what um landed me with you to get the chair for Lorraine.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Yeah, you know, and it's um with you saying that, it is really sad because we go into a lot of facilities, and unfortunately, that's what we see a lot of is most patients are sitting in those regular standard chairs, and they, you know, they even have ones where they have the recliner chair, but that's still not a positioning chair, right? It's just it reclines you back a little bit. But if you just think of someone sitting in a chair vertical for anything past two hours, I always say anything past two hours, it's just crazy, you know, that how but people don't get it, they don't really see the because how can someone tell you they're in pain?

SPEAKER_00 7:29

A lot of people can't, correct, you know, and and it's hard for some people to say that they're in pain. And some people, like spinal cord injury patients, they don't feel pain, but then they have a whole host of other problems in terms of pressure sores and so on that can come from not feeling pain. But the thing that's specifically about the standard reclining chairs that I think is so poor is that the back goes back, but it essentially drives the person kind of forward, it creates a lot of shear underneath their buttocks and on their viscule tuberosties, and and you know, you slide out. And anybody who has sat in a kind of a semi back reclining position on a bit of a slippery surface, you know you're I don't know, demonstrating you know, after a while you're kind of sliding out and you're pushing yourself back up, and so yeah, it seems obvious to me that that is not a particularly great way to spend a whole lot of time. I just I mean, I get fidgety sitting in a standard sitting position for five minutes, you know. So the hours I can't imagine.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Right? I agree with you. Well, I was it was so funny. I was uh last night we were at the I was at the beach and I was using just a regular, well, first of all, I sit on seat cushions no matter where I'm at. I'm always on a seat cushion. And but just sitting last night, I'm thinking, okay, well, I'll just sit here for a little bit, and I was using one of these little little lounging chairs, you know, just sits low, and I'm having to recline a little bit. And I'm thinking, you know, because I'm always thinking about the patients, right? I'm always thinking, and I'm thinking to myself, like, how there is this is so crazy. Like I'm sliding down like you are sliding down, but the discomfort, like I'm having to get up, standing up, move around and all these things because I didn't take my seat cushion, but um, it was just crazy. So the seating, um, and people don't understand either, is that it's the type of seating, too, like the certain type of seat cushions that you're getting. It matters depending on what's going on with the patient, right? And then when you talk about the brota, what I love about broda is because it has the polyvinyl straps, these precision straps that contours to the body. So that means if your loved one is moving, it's contouring and moving to the body.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

And that is Well, I you know, I I had um well, two comments about what you just said. One is I think that just about anybody could naturally understand how that comfortable a reclining chair is. I mean, our recliners in our living rooms are built on purpose so that the back goes back and the bottom area kind of inclines, so it creates this kind of position, and then your knees are gradually bent. They're designed because that's a very comfortable position, and anybody who's laid back in a recliner knows this, you know, so it's it's kind of um intuitive. But to the comment that you just made about the those straps, I think I learned about this um way, way, way back in my experience as an orthopedic surgeon, taking care of uh you know spinal cord injured patients or people with severe head injuries, where we had to pay a ton of attention to the risk for pressure sores and pressure distribution. And um I didn't mention this earlier, but I also have a PhD. I did a fair amount of research as part of my professional training and later on in my career. And some of the work I did was specifically on pressure distribution. You know, that's what I wrote my thesis on was about the effects of um pressure gradients and so on on muscles and nerves. So I'm I'm actually quite tuned into this issue with sharp edges and hard edges and the transition. That's what's key is the transition between a hard surface and an absent surface or a soft surface. And so the so a strap that conforms or a um a viscous pad that's conforming to the body makes a big difference for how skin and subcutaneous tissues and muscles and nerves um are experiencing that pressure. And this is an aside, but this is this is a this is an interesting way to think about this is you know, pressure in itself is not bad. It's pressure distribution that's the risk. And anybody who knows about um deep sea diving, you know, human beings and animals, whatever, who are under the sea are under enormous amounts of pressure and water, it creates a ton of pressure. It's uniform compression compression, and we tolerate that fine. It's if you've got a pressure gradient that's the problem, and so I think that's the way to think about how the straps on that particular chair work. They use those pressure gradients.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Right. Oh my god, that is awesome. And and that's important you said that because in even with the straps, I have a client now that we he got a brota to. Now, unfortunately, he has a stage four on his butt area. Um, and so he has the brota, and the brota is giving him some comfort, but we still have to bring in a an actual the additional seat cushion, but it's the right type of seat cushion that he's gonna need to take some of that pressure off. Um, and it's so crazy that when you talk about sleep surfaces are sitting surfaces, it's so important now. We tell people that you get an assessment to make sure to feet see what's going on with the patient because people don't realize, but every surface is different, even down to the sleeping surface that you're on.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Absolutely. There's some actually very, very cool devices to measure pressure distribution with um grids that are built into a pad that have like intersecting wires and they can sense you know um actual pressure distribution, and it's fascinating. And I know research has been done in real wheelchairs and in custom beds and cushions like you're describing. Yeah, it actually helps with decision making, I think.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

It does, it really does. It really does. We do this often, and even down to I have families, they'll tell me, Oh, well, you know, we have a low air loss mattress that they're getting from the insurance. I'll give you an example. But unfortunately, the ones that the insurance provide is just your basic standard low air loss mattress. It's a lot of times it's not con now, of course, depending on what's going on with the patient, it might not be conducive. So, what we do is go in and do the assessment and bring in more an advanced type of low air loss depending on what's going on, because people don't realize there's different levels to even low air loss mattresses.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

And so you know, and and and the that's it touches on the insurance issue and the cost of these things. But the way I view that decision making is maybe it'll cost some more for a custom air mattress in that example that you gave. But you got to balance that against the cost to the patient in terms of suffering and the cost of surgery and delayed healing from a pressure ulcer, or I mean, there's a lot of downstream consequences to these decisions. And this was specifically relevant to Lorraine, to my wife's um situation, because I did see if insurance was going to pay for this wheelchair. They didn't bite on it, and I said to myself, so it's expensive, but if I distribute that money that I'm spending over the course of hopefully years of her future life of comfort, it's it's a you know, that's a small expense in the big picture of what I can do for her for her comfort. It's a it seems like a huge amount of money, and for a lot of people, unfortunately, they probably need help to be able to afford this, but but I view it kind of differently. I kind of divide the expense by the number of days that hopefully show up in the chair.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Yeah, yeah. And that's what we normally tell people. We tell people that it's an investment because when you look at the picture, so we have a lot of times, we have a lot of facilities that'll call us in to do uh, we have patients who have fall risk, right? Because they have a memory, and so they're falling and or getting out the bed, but we still need them to have that same clinical contour and that comfort, regardless if the bed is going high or low. And in doing that, when we come in, it's like, what is the investment of you as a family member getting called constantly all night long and every day because your loved one has fallen out of the bed and now they have to be rushed to the hospital because now they have injuries to the falls, versus getting something that's going to be conducive for them. And maybe it's expensive, but now you're saving yourself the time that you can still be able to do what you need to do for your livelihood to be able to provide the services that they're getting, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:54

I I was joking with the people at the facility, you know, the old attitude matters. And I said, in this case, altitude matters. Yes, how high you're falling from, it matters. And so you know, it does. Um from a small distance, I mean, you you tend to bounce and not break. Um and so it makes a big difference for the patient. And a fracture, I mean, a fractured hip or fractured spine makes a huge difference in the morbidity. I mean, that that's a bad outcome for people generally. So people to fall. In fact, and back to that issue of falling, um, the specifically, I think, for the dementia issue, one of the um one of the pushbacks about the chair was that it could be misconstrued as some sort of a restraint, even though we're not using a safety belt or something. And I had to argue a little bit with the administrators, like, how is it sitting back in a comfortable position is a restraint? But I want to bring this up in this discussion because maybe other people who listen are gonna get that same kind of a response. The analogy I pushed back was like, well, you put people in reclining chairs, how's that any different than a wheelchair that reclines? You know, it's it's logically inconsistent. But the other thing about the the fall risk that I think is important beyond if you're comfortable, you just don't want to get up and you're not gonna trip, is that the particular chair that we ordered and you helped me with this for Lorraine has the footrests that completely fold and get out of the way underneath your feet. So that actually has helped a lot because the other design you can get tangled up in those footrests pretty easily. And it was a it took almost no time to train the staff on how to use those with the levers, got them out of the way. But when the rain is sitting down or under when the chair is by like a table eating lunch, I think it's actually really good to get those footrests out of the way.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

To not have to take them off the chair, because then they're gonna get lost.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

And that's not good either. So I I really like that design. I've never seen that actually in another chair. I don't know if you have, but I that's that's a very cool feature of this particular chair for us.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Yeah, the Broda inquiry was great. And no, but I have to thank you for doing your due diligence because you, with your information and knowledge and us in Broda, we always go together as a team to help families get exactly what's going to work for them. And so you were a big part of that. So thank you for that. Because I think you actually actually brought up that design of let's flip back, right? So something she wouldn't trip over. And uh, yeah, so Broda made it happen.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Right. I mean, that's uh you know, I kind of understood. Well, I think this is you know, it's not just me. People people who are caregivers are they're supposed to be the advocates for their loved ones, yes, and they understand best what the needs of their loved ones are. You have to respect that. Families know what their loved ones need, and so I understood what my wife needed. I had some experience, you know, as an orthopedist with these devices. I mean, I was advantaged there, but um, I said I I need something that the that she's gonna be comfortable in, that she's gonna be able to lay back because she sleeps a lot, and I know that you know she's gonna nap, so let's make her comfortable. She's getting a little fidgety. The chair that we got allows her to rock herself a little bit. Yeah, I wasn't sure if she would learn how to propel herself, but at least there was that option to use her feet to move along. I knew that she wasn't gonna be able to use her arms, other patients can't. Um I also knew that the uh the caregivers, it was necessary to have a chair that was going to be easy to push around and simple because I'd get pushback from the staff, it was some you know, monstrosity that was impossible to get around the facility. So I sort of made a checklist of the things that I needed, and then we talked and um you were you listened, and then you fitted her, which was also a huge thing because um when the chair came back, it fit her perfectly. I I mean it would not fit me because I'm like yes, you are, but it fit her perfectly. So that's that's what it was for, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, and that's the and that's the thing, like making sure it's gonna fit the person who's gonna be using it.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Yeah, so yeah, we were excited, totally excited. And at first I was like, oh my god, because we always get nervous with when you're doing these custom chairs, because it's a little bit different from a complex rehab type of situation, and so because you were trying to narrow down those, you know, especially with just making sure uh she those those uh footrest and the rocking and making sure it was going to be level to her positioning, which she was gonna still be comfortable with the depth of it. So all those things play a part in it, and so yeah, we were so excited when she said it, and I was like, Yes, yeah, we were happy.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Well, you I could tell you where and I was too. They the other thing that I think we built in for the future, she doesn't need it now, but that that chair has a couple of bolsters that sit up kind of at shoulder height. Um, very easy to put a pillow if I want to. I've got a stuffed dog that I sometimes she pets it. It's yeah, kind of a common thing, but we can use that as a pillow. But in the future, as she loses, which she will, she's gonna lose muscle control and she's gonna sag uh you know when she's sleeping, and that's just part of this disease. Yeah, having the ability to um give her more support in the thoracic area, I think will become more important. So, you know, I I my my point here is it's not just the exact needs now. Yeah, I think when you're making an investment in something like this, you ought to be thinking to the future of what's going to be helpful. And transportation becomes a big thing too. So, you know, this chair, I don't you know, I'm not a paid consultant, I just want to make that clear.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

I know you're not.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Sound like I'm selling it, but the the this chair has the attachment points for transportation clean. That are safe at a higher speed. Which is important if she needs to get transported later for outings or to the hospital or for doctor's visits and so on. It's not a chair that's going to go in my trunk. You know, I've got a separate small folding lightweight chair. So for anybody who needs something that's going to go into the back of their car, this is not it because it's heavy, you know. But that was the purpose. It wasn't, you know, there's other devices.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

It's more than that. Yeah. So that, yeah, those transport things, uh, transport, it's a transport kit, and we love that because it allows people to go where they need to. We have people who have on dialysis, they don't have to get out of their chair for nothing. They leave the facility or the home, go to dialysis, do what they have to do, come back in their chair, and they have that same comfort throughout that time and the vehicles, the transport vehicles are specially equipped to cleat basically into these attachment points that were very strong.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

So, you know, to be honest, I didn't know that that was a feature until I started researching this for my wife when I was in practice. That wasn't something I came across, but it totally makes sense. It's safer. It's safer.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

It's all about the safety, it's all about the safety of the patient and what they need. So yeah, I uh yeah, so we love all the so no, you're not paid, doctor. Yeah, so uh but I appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

And this is kind of funny though. I gotta I also say so there are rules about restraints in memory care facilities and so on. I think they vary state by state. And um safety belts are considered a restraint system. So because this can be used for transport, there has a there's a built-in waist belt. But I actually turned it around and and sort of hit it, I camouflaged it. They haven't even noticed that it's there, you know. So I didn't want to freak out anybody at the facility. Like I was buying something. She doesn't need that, you doesn't need a belt.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

But um right, right. And you got a cute and you ordered a cute, a nice bag to go on to the camouflage.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

That was part of the camouflage to to hide it with a nice little bag in the back. So it was nice, but it's there, it's there for when she needs to be transported to that.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Yeah, because you can't have that transport kit without the seat belt, it's just right, makes sense, yeah, yeah, for safety.

unknown 24:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

So yeah, and then a lot of times too, facilities don't know because sometimes they just don't know. But in compliance, as long as you have a doctor's order, right? You literally can have that in there as long as it's written a certain type of way that doesn't require it to be like in you know, um, that you're it's like a harness or anything like that, as long as the doctor can put it in.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Oh, it's used for the purposes of the transportation movement. I've got that letter, I've got it signed by the doctor. So in the future they do ask for it, but yeah, not in the facility. Um, they they don't they don't want to have to use it there. Yeah.

unknown 24:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

So and it's because yes, because some of the facilities they weren't aware of that, and like we would tell them, like, because I do compliance too, and I'll tell them, like, no, you can have this as long as you have this in place. And then, oh, okay, so now they're actually even with rails, depending on what kind they are, and depending on what's going on with the patient, you know, some people have to have that little more positioning, and if you can get the doctor to sign off on that um for without restraints, you can have those as well. But some facilities they don't, you know, they just have their rules, and then some don't know. And then when they find out, they're like, Oh, okay, we didn't, we wasn't aware.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

So you know, it was interesting when when we were trying to work through with the facility um getting the buy-in for the broda chair, I realized that there was a disconnect in the terminology. I was saying brodachair because I knew what we were getting, the on-board chair, which is really well designed for memory care patients. The people I was talking to heard Brodachair, and their experience was with brotas for ALS patients, which are way more complicated, they're awesome for that purpose, and they facilitate sliding boards and people who have no motor control. Yeah, way, way different piece of equipment. But I I'm making this point because I used the term brodach. The person hearing it did not understand what I was talking about. And then once I figured out we are on different, you know, we're just missing, then it was, oh, okay, well, you we could do that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Yeah, yeah, it's positioning. That's it. And I always tell, and it was so funny you say that too, because I literally just got a call today of a lady wants a broda for her husband. And so she says, Well, I don't know about the brota, I was looking at something different because the brota is just so big and it's just got these big wheels on it. And I had to tell her, like, you know, I had explained to her that the customization of it is going to be based on the need of the patient and what's going on with them.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

So I could think because she was thinking of this big chair with these big wheels, and yeah, so she's like, Oh, yeah, I mean, people, you know, we all make assumptions, but you know, it's a it's like there's a menu of things to pick from, literally.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

It really is. Yeah. So I'm like, no, it's not that, it's not that. So anyway, I have an appointment with her. So, but uh, she was just that same thing you're talking about. She just hears Broda and she thinks about this big chair and these big wheels, and it's probably because one she's seen, but when you see all these other ones that has been designed and the wheels, um, that yeah, because even with the one that Lorraine has, it has the the four. I think we have the 14-inch mag wheels on hers on the back.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

Yes, yeah, yeah, the the wheels in in the back, and um it could it's very easy to push around. I mean there's other models that are heavier that are harder to steer and so on, but I think that's where you make the assessment, you know, where you made the assessment. What's the environment, what's her weight, what are what are we expecting to do in the chair, you know, yeah. All those considerations, and we came up with a good discussion about it. And I think there was also you had feedback from the company, you know, about some of the options, and they were experts at features that made sense for her Lorraine specifically. So that was very helpful.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Yeah, and that's what we do. It's like we don't go this alone. We take we say it takes a team, right? So just everybody kind of put their uh comments in because we're pulling from you know, other people's oh, well, I've tried this chair and it worked for this person, and this is what they had, and and you know, we just learn all these different things when it comes to the depth, the width, the the environment, everything we look at the full picture. I tell people that anyone can sell your product, but for us, it's all about the patient and the family and how we can make everything work for them, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

So, and if you don't believe the color, but I think the I think the color is ultimately up to the uh the patient and the family.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Yes. Yeah, well, you did a great job on the color too, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Yeah, make it a little a little understated. We didn't need to need to set off alarms with the color of the oh my gosh, yeah. People like hugely bright colors, we didn't go there around it.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Yeah, we didn't. It was so funny because I had I think I had told you, yeah, I just did one that's a hot pink. So you were like, no, not here. We were trying to stay incognito with this chair.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Exactly. That was the yeah, so there has been a little bit of chair envy. It's pretty funny at the facility now that other people have seen it. There, I've I've had some questions from other family members. Check that out.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

So yeah, I know we we get that quite often. It's so funny. We did one with a client, he has he got the hype pink, and everybody was like, Oh my god, like who's getting this chair? And it was like a rehab facility. And we were like, Yeah, I told him, like, you need to keep up with this chair because it because in that type of a facility, it could easily go, and he's bedridden, right? And so his wife isn't there all the time, and so you know, it could you I'm like, put that one in the corner over there. So, you know, but I'm sure if they see you walking around the hospital, someone will know it's his because it's a hot pink, but uh yeah, you know, I I definitely labeled her chair, you know, but um, you know, hopefully nobody's gonna look at it and take it.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

That would be a bummer.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

That would be it would be a bummer, it would be a bummer. So well, Robert, this has been awesome. I thank you so much for spending your time with us. I know your you know, your schedule is so tight and everything, and it was such a pleasure working with you and Lorraine and just figuring things out, and we were so just hoping that it worked out for her, and so you guys are definitely in our prayers.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Well, back at you. I also, you know, just really appreciated the professionalism, but also, but also you remember you allowed me to use one of your loner chairs for a while, which Lorraine was recovering from her ankle fracture, and I can't tell you how much I appreciated that. That customer service, it was really, really good because it it carried her through um uh what a month or six weeks. It was actually a custom chair to come, and it was very, very useful during that interval. So thank you for yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Well, we do that when we can. We can't do it so we get so many requests sometimes. We're not able to do that, but we're just happy that we were able to do that with you guys and get that uh taken care of for you and stuff. So you know where we are if you ever need anything, and that's the good part too. So if you need service afterwards or what have you, you have us in the training. Oh, let me say this real quick to you guys. The training, I think, doctor, and you can tell me what you think about this. That's one of the things that we see too a lot of, not just for um the chairs, the broader chairs, but we see this often and always tell people like, I don't care how much money you spend on a product or an item, if you don't know how to, if you don't have a company that can train you specifically how to use the product, that's where the breakdown becomes. And we see this a lot. And I think that if the facilities can get to a place where they have people come in and do the training for their staff, you're gonna unlock so many different features of what the chair can do.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

You're totally right, and the more complicated the device and/or the less experienced the staff, the more important this is. But you were available. The good thing was that the device is really pretty intuitive. I mean, this particular chair that we bought, most of the features are simple, and I have enough experience. So what happened was I learned it. We taught it to some of the senior nursing staff, and then they disseminated the information. When I was paying attention for the first uh couple of weeks, did everybody understand how to use it, how to fold things in it was not hard for the for this experienced set of people to catch on and use it. Um, but I can imagine you sell other things that are way more complicated. That that kind of training is critical.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Oh, yeah. We um I'll give you an example. We were in the hospital doing another assessment on a client and for an actual chair. And mind you, this particular patient was in a bed that literally has all the bells and whistles, that literally, because the facility.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

And we found it disturbing because we were like, okay, let's transfer him from this bed over to the chair because what's so powerful, too, that people don't realize is that with the brota, the head comes off and the arms come off, which allow you, if you have the proper bed, to lower it to a point where you can transfer a patient easily without using a horrible lift. Now, depending on you know how what you what you're using to um position them, you might slide them over with. But we found that the staff didn't even know that the functionality with the bed, the bed is amazing, but they didn't know that the bed lowered enough to make him even with the chair to even transfer him out. We see this a lot, and it's very disturbing because if you're taking care of someone's loved one, whether you're in a hospital or you're in a home, and it's not no one, it's not, I wouldn't say it's the it's not the caretakers or the nurse's fault. I actually had a nurse practitioner tell me about some months back, she says, Tara, we just don't learn this equipment. She was honest.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

She says, We I think that I don't think that there's any, you know, shame in this. There's a lot of equipment that a lot of it is complicated. Uh either there's just a limit to how much people, how much experience they have.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

And I think that that's part of the job of being uh an advocate, being the family member is learn. I I learned this as much as I could. I got Lorraine a specialized bed and I learned how to use it, and I watch and pay attention too.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

So yeah, it's so important.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

I don't think that I don't think there's any sin. You know, what you don't know, you don't know.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

It's you don't know what's you don't know, but I think that it's up on the facilities, though, to make sure that the staff knows how to use this equipment properly. I think that's where the disconnect is. It's not what you, you know, I'm speaking on a facility level because we see so much of it.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

And uh when a client and you're right, they are responsible because if they're misusing or underusing equipment, that's on them. Yeah, but the administrators may not appreciate it either. So I I think that's a good thing. I mean, you know what these devices are supposed to do and what they can do. Being there to offer the training, uh, being available is is uh is huge. Whether they take you up on it is a problem, but yeah, at least you're there to offer it.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Yeah, that's so true, so important out there. So any last words today, Doctor? To the audience.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

My my words to the audience is be an advocate for your loved one, whatever their situation is, and and um learn as much as you can, and then get a good company that's willing to help you get what your loved one needs.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

That's there you go.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

That's my message.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

There you go. Thank you. Doctor, I want to thank you again today because you were busy, and uh thank you for being on the Metal Equipment World and Healthcare Get the Scoop. And you guys, today, this episode is sponsored by CFS Medical Supplies and Equipment, CFS Solutions. And you guys always know, I always say to we will catch you on the next episode. So thank you for listening in, and I hope that this information has been a blessing and a help to someone and their family on today. Have a wonderful day.