Power chair saga – Update 01

Well, it's over a month since the January letter was mailed. But it looks like the letters I wrote had an impact. It's not like a million hits on YouTube… But it's close.

From a letter I wrote and sent in mid-January, I was contacted two days ago by Medicaid here in my state. I was asked several questions. Then I was asked if I had contacted the vendor since I wrote the letters. Medicaid wanted to know what's been going on with my chair. I said it's in my letters. I have been having periodic problems with the power chair's joystick bracket. Maybe it's a good thing I wrote those letters. I knew I would probably have trouble with this newer power chair again.

I got another call from Medicaid today asking me if the vendor had contacted me. I said he had not. A little while ago I got an email from him. It was only about two sentences long and it didn't say very much. I'm trying to read between the lines to see what he means by what he is saying.

He wants to know if this is an old problem or a new problem. Maybe I should just say it's an ongoing problem. Anytime you have equipment it needs to be maintained. That means you need another person or persons to help you.

So far I have written three different drafts of an email to him. I'm trying to strike just the right tone. It's kind of hard. I suppose it's possible he knows nothing about me or the power chair I received. I don't know quite how that could be. But I suppose it is possible.

I was going to try to email him back right away. But I kind of decided not to. I'm going to wait a bit. I want to sleep on it and see what I think in the morning.

I think Medicaid needs to change their process. It's not very consumer friendly. I'm sure they don't buy many power chairs for nursing home residents. I only know of less than 10 people getting one in the last few years. That's not very many. Medicaid already told me that they cannot check into every power chair purchased. I don't know why not. It's the people's money not Medicaid's.

One thing about the wheelchair users forum that I used was that they wanted to make sure that I followed up about what happened with the chair and how the vendor handled me and my difficulties. They said it was very important for other wheelchair users because they may be treated similarly and then end up feeling like I do.

I guess we cannot put down the written word. Yelling, chanting, and marching carrying a sign might get attention. But if you write down what you want and are not getting, I think it's easier to understand.

Even though I have needs that have not been met to my way of thinking. I'm trying to think about what this CEO might be thinking.



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