ATSA Independent Living Expo
The ATSA Independent Living Expo is a great opportunity to check out the latest and greatest available equipment from suppliers. While it hasn’t been able to take place in Sydney over the last two years, it was recently held in Canberra, so some of our team made the trip down to see what was being showcased.
We feel a huge responsibility to the individuals and care providers that we work with to keep up to date with the latest developments in equipment - as this equipment plays such an important role in the daily life our our client and supports safe delivery of supports for care providers.
In addition to testing out plenty of equipment, it was wonderful to spend time with the suppliers to look at how we can get the best out of their equipment and find creative solutions to some of the challenges that our clients are facing. This relationship between therapists and suppliers is so important in order to get the best outcomes for people who require equipment to support their daily tasks.
We found so many things that we want to share with you. Here are a few to start - we’ll be sharing more in the coming weeks!
One of the influencing factors in people needing to move from a standing aid or standing lifter to a full body lifters is difficulty in completing the transfer from lying in bed to sitting on the side. This is can be exhausting for the individual and physically difficult or even dangerous for a care provider. Because of this, we were excited to see the Rotobed in action.
Through using the hand control, the user can transfer from lying to sitting in a supported position on the side of the bed, ready to complete a standing transfer or use a standing aid or stand lifter. While they certainly cost more than a regular adjustable bed, it is worth considering how this may change your care needs - does this make you more independent or reduce the care ratio from 2 support staff to 1?
It was wonderful to be able to test the bed out (thanks Megan for being our model in this video) and we are excited to be able to trial it with some of our clients in the coming months.
Adaptive clothing from Every Human
We loved checking out the range of adaptive clothing and shoes from Every Human. This includes shoes that open up to accommodate limited hand function, swollen feet, splints or prosthetics; and clothing that looks great and is easy to put on thanks to magnetic openings, pants with built in continence aids and high-back jeans for wheelchair users.
We are planning on getting a kit together to help with trials so let us know if you spot something on their website that you are keen to try out and we’ll do our best to source it.
Automated medication dispensers by Tab Timer
We’re excited to see some our clients planning for a move into independent living options. The automatic medication dispenser is a great way to have your medications safely managed, being released at set intervals over the course of the day. They have a range of options with differing levels of security for storage of medications.
If you’ve got any questions about the equipment we’ve mentioned in this article, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.