Joystick FINALLY in a better spot

No one really knows quite how small you feel when you live in a nursing home and need something done with your equipment.

The joystick was now adjustable. How much I did not know. Jason (manufacturer's rep) didn't have the time to show me how to use the adjustable part. That was a major failing on my part.

I emailed the regional ombudsman about the joystick needing to go up approximately one half an inch. She said she would contact Nan, the therapy manager. I didn't quite understand why she was doing that. Therapy had made no adjustments to my chair. I had no idea that they would. Although, I realized it would really be helpful if they did.

About four days later I was in the front lobby when the therapy manager I will call Nan came in the door. She said she understood that the joystick on my power chair needed to be raised up. I told her that was correct. I asked her how that could be done. She said she would need an Allen wrench. The ones she had in her hand did not work.

I told her I had some in my backpack. She looked at mine and said they were the wrong size. I was surprised because that was the size I had been carrying for my old power chair. I thought they were all sort of standard. But I realized I did not know everything.

Nan left and said she was going to talk with the maintenance man. A few minutes later she came back with two sets of Allen wrenches. She found the right one (a 3/8 inch) loosened a couple of fasteners, raised the joystick about a half an inch and tightened it.

Then she asked me if that was all right. Because the joystick was a bit higher I needed her to pull my arm forward to reach it. That took away some of the charm of it because I could not reach it by myself.

I sort of felt like I was backing up. I was now raising the joystick closer to the range where the vendor's tech had put it. I felt frustrated.

Nevertheless I thanked her and she said to email her, since I now had her email address, if I needed anything else.

***

In the meantime the power chair users forum still wanted to know how things turned out. For some reason they said I was just lucky to get my chair fixed. They told me that most customers who get the wrong set up in a chair just had to live with it, or use it that way.. I sensed they were a bit angry with me.

I assured them that I would write letters to all the same folks I wrote before about my power chair's problems. They said we needed system change. I planned to mention that.

I felt a nursing home needed to give more support to a resident when he or she got a new power chair. I wrote a one page letter and those were mailed – regular mail – after the first of the year. I did that so we could avoid the postelection and December holiday rush..

The chair is still working for me. It is still an adjustment. Do I wish it had been done better? Yes I do.