Wheelchair Armrest Protection

Rbz5416

My Mum has an Invacare TDX SP2 powered wheelchair that is attendant driven. Unfortunately, many of said attendants in her care home are morons, who can't guide the chair through a doorway without scraping the arms against the frame. This chair has padded armrests with a fairly thin vinyl cover, which has been ripped to shreds on both sides.

I've bought replacements but looking for some kind of protection for the vinyl to help mitigate against this. Any ideas gratefully received.

dkb123

they are very expensive to replace, but the only answer is to bind them with tape because if you don't you will be forever changing them and they won't last long 

Rbz5416

dkb123 said:

they are very expensive to replace, but the only answer is to bind them with tape because if you don't you will be forever changing them and they won't last long 

£76 for the pair. 

I'm hoping for something more aesthetic than say gaffa tape, that will likely leech adhesive from the edges. Also needs to be waterproof to allow cleaning.

newborn

Taping and taping again is one answer. Or have a think if there is anything else such as a sleeve of plastic gutter, sawn open along the length and then forced over the armrest?  Or  a sleeve of thick foam intended to insulate thick pipes?  Or something similar?

Particularly now that people have bariatric epiocs and the ancient minimum widths for building regulations are plainly out of date, maybe it is worth asking the home why
 a) their doorways are not wide enough and
 b) their staff are not trained?   The important issue is that some residents will inevitably have their arms and hands bashed.  That matters much more than the wheelchair arms, which can be taped up or even replaced. Human arms can't.

You could also  point out that care workers are worth their weight in gold, and that having any working practice involving avoidable collision when pushing is liable to tip a resident onto the floor or to jolt and hurt the patient. and is also liable to jolt and hurt the attendant doing the pushing. 

Do the unions and the insurers really like having workers risk hurting their own hands, wrists, shoulders and backs by smashing a wheelchair into a doorframe?  Do care homes have such a surplus of staff they can afford to have shifts missed after workers are hurt?