A physical rehabilitation clinic – Dallas, Texas
“You have to use the bed to bounce yourself onto your chair,” said Tom. His speech was muddy and loud, but his new patient understood. The patient had been diagnosed with some disease Tom had never heard of before: “Dermato something something.” He was trying to teach the patient how to get out of bed and into a wheelchair. The new patient didn’t have the muscle strength to stand up and sit down, therefore he couldn’t maneuver from bed to chair easily. His doctors were considering letting him go home once he could master movement from the bed to the chair; the alternative was being sent to a nursing home.
The patient was determined not to go to the nursing home, and what he lacked in fine motor control, he could make up in large movements. Tom had the idea to have the patient propel his body upward, and when he came back down, the springs in the bed would bounce him up just high enough...