PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND COVID19

Fellow wheelchair users. Let us share with you our thoughts on becoming bullet-proof in this time of COVID19. We are all well aware of our immune systems being compromised by spinal cord injury as well as our diaphragms not as robust. Especially if we have been quadriplegic or paraplegic for many years. So how do we avoid contact with people and the environment to ensure least chance of getting virus? Remember our push rims that we depend on for movement could be the very ascoop & Carrier of the virus short periods of time depending on where we have been and so we need to sanitise our push rims and obviously our hands regularly. Sanitise the toggle of your power wheelchair. If somebody is taking your wheelchair in and out of your vehicle, make sanitiser available and then sanitise your wheelchair. If someone is getting your cushion from the back seat Then be as vigilant. If someone assists to push you up a hill or assists you down a hill, sanitise the mushrooms so have sanitiser with you. Obviously your mobile phone is something that can carry any germ at any time and anywhere and then of course it goes straight onto your face. If you have a caregiver, consider a discussion immediately about lockdown living in. If you have 2 caregivers that Alternate‚ consider the same discussion. When transferring, we use many services and so sanitise, sanitise, sanitise. When you inflate your tires, sanitise the pump. I suggest when pushing your wheelchair in any environment outside of your home for the moment, then use disposable gloves. We are more vulnerable, we need to be more vigilant.

Stay health!