Caregiving Tip

my dad has been wheelchair bound since a stroke 4 years ago left him paralyzed and blind in one eye. he uses a motorized chair, but due to vision problems, frequently scrapes up against the walls as he navigates his assisted living apartment. as the neoprene covers on the handles on the back wore away, the walls suffered more and more damage.

at first we contacted the wheelchair service shop we have used in the past to replace the covers, but they wouldn't order parts for less than $150. then we went to a bike shop and they cut the old covers off and put on rubber handlebar grips. that worked for a while, but eventually they wore through, too, from the constant scraping.

finally, my son suggested we put tennis balls on the grips similar to the way people do on their walkers. this was the perfect solution--the wall no longer gets black marks, and the tennis balls slide along the surface of the wall easily, and they are inexpensive to replace. we cut an x in the balls with an exacto knife just large enough to fit snugly on the handle. hope this is useful to wheelchair users out there.