upcoming trip question

[jerrysboy40]

I am in a power chair, and leave for WDW in 13 days. I can't wait! Anyway, I have this huge fear of getting to the World and something going wrong with my chair. It's almost an obsession. I have been to the repair store at least once a week for the past 3 weeks getting things checked. I have new batteries, new brushes, a new seat. I even have an extra wire that goes from the joystick to the batteries just in case.

I guess my question is this... Can one of the Mobility places fix my chair if something would go wrong? Would they come and get it? Let me rent another chair while mine was getting fixed.

Maybe I'm just being to pessimistic

 

[pugdog]

On one of our trips down the airlines caused some problems with DW powerchair. They put us in contact with care medical. We called them up, had someone out within an hour and they were able to fix the chair for the most part. DW has a Jay deep contour back and they don't carry those but the tech was able to fix it enough that it didn't interfere with our trip.
So relax have fun and know that if, and thats a big if, something breaks there are people that can help you.

 

[SueM in MN]

You are not alone in fearing problems. My DD's wheelchair is like a part of her body. It sounds like you have done everything you can to prepare your wheelchair, so my advice would be to relax now.

If your mobility company is part of a big group (like Apria, for example), I would check with them to see if they have a branch in the Orlando area. They would probably be easier to deal than a totally new company that you don't have a relationship with.

The next thing I would probably do is check with the manufacturer of your wheelchair to get the phone number/etc for an Orlando dealer that handles your brand of wheelchair. Chances are good that there are several in the Orlando area. The 3 most common brands of power wheelchairs in the US are Invacare, Quickie and Pride Mobility (Jazzy). Orlando is a pretty big city, so you should not have a problem finding a dealer for those brands.

Care and Walker are both full service medical equipment companies, so should be able to help you.

I've never dealt with a mobility company that would not pick up and deliver (after all, if your wheelchair is out of commission, you may not be able to get to them), so I don't think that would be a problem.
Renting a temporary replacement wheelchair also should not be a big problem. The last 2 years, we had looked into renting a power wheelchair for my DD because we didn't really want to travel with hers. The only problem we would have had was that her wheelchair is a very custom size (seat is 14 inches with and 18 inches deep). If we had needed a more "standard" size wheelchait, we could have rented one without a problem. They may not be able to provide a specialty seat or back, but if you have a mechanical problem with your wheelchair, you may be able to just transfer your own.