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I was not able to use a Hoyer lift. My legs pushed on my stomach, which left me short of breath if I had an asthma attack or illness. I also didn’t have the neck control to use it without the headrest, but I had a terrifying experience where the headrest forced me into a closed airway position and I couldn’t get out of it until I completed the transfer. I had to find another option. Thanks to an ad in New Mobility, I found a great alternative: the Easy Pivot by RandScott. https://youtu.be/eN78ya7QMt0 The best thing about it, from my point of view, is that it enables me to use public restrooms at grad school, work, and on outings.
For men with SMA Type 2, it’s pretty easy to use a portable urinal with one PCA, but women’s urinals are not so easy to use and often spill. For me, using the toilet meant transferinng to bed, pulling down my pants, transferring to the shower chair, peeing, getting wiped while seated, and then doing the reverse. I took 15 minutes. In my brief use of the Hoyer, it involved the same transfers, but my PCA struggled with my pants and changing from the regular sling to the toileting sling on the bed. Because my pelvis is oblique and my hips are uneven, lining up the toileting sling with my hips on the bed did not result in a stable sitting position on the commode.
For years I only toileted at home. My 18-hour bladder habit resulted in a flaccid neurogenic bladder disorder, meaning I was officially incontinent. Worse, my incontinence started during my summer internship, which I wanted to convert to a permanent job offer. Why I became incontinent and how I restored my continence again is another story. The bottom line was that I would never be able to get through a workday without a bathroom visit. The Easy Pivot saved my career. No bed is needed. I get strapped in, roll into the bathroom stall, close the door, have my pants pulled down, sit on the toilet while being supported by the lift, pee, get lifted off, get wiped accurately because my assistant can see what they’re doing, pull pants up, open the door, sit in the wheelchair in nearly the same position, unstrap the lift, and -put the lift in the closet.
I had two Easy Pivots, one for home and one my family bought for me-I forgot that Vocational Rehabilitation may have paid didn’t request financial assistance. In graduate school, the University was no help with enabling me to use the bathroom on campus, but a church three blocks away let me store a lift in their family and disability bathroom. I met an aid at the church. Later, when I started work, my employer accommodated me by letting me store my lift in a lockable closet in a women’s bathroom. Toileting took ten minutes, but I had to pay a lot to make it a worth the trip for a PCA. My employees permitted me to advertise in the newsletter for paid assistance from coworkers who I would train and pay at a more affordable rate. Several people called me, and all of them refus ed compensation.