Workshop: Manual Wheelchair Prescription
– Picking the right frame, don’t stop there
Technology Park Function Centre, Bentley
Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Unicare Health would like to thank Prithy Sivaraman and the lovely team at Sunrise Medical Clinical Hub for making learning fun at our wheelchair workshop this week.
Prithy is a physiotherapist who has been working with both adults and children since 2007, prescribing complex seating and wheelchairs. She began her career in Perth before relocating to Adelaide 10 years ago to develop her experience with paediatric clients and alternative access controls for powered mobility. She currently enjoys working for Sunrise Medical as an educator and trainer.
Travelling from South Australia to facilitate this workshop, Prithy delivered a valuable session that taught therapists how to
- confidently access clients to prescribe an appropriate wheelchair
- understand how to configure a manual wheelchair to minimise the risk of overuse injuries
- appreciate different manual wheelchair frame types
- make sense of propulsion and how to maximise client’s propulsion daily
- experience power add-ons and assist clients ageing with a disability to maximize independence and
- develop practical wheelchair skills
We were delighted to be joined by occupational therapists and physiotherapists working in hospitals, aged care, disability and community, as well as some graduating OT students from Curtin University who were eager to bridge vivid relevance to real life.
This workshop also welcomed Mitchell Stone, product specialist at Sunrise Medical, who tuned in via Microsoft Teams to talk about assessment strategies and considerations.
We were also thrilled to have Australian Glider Georgia Inglis join us at our practical sessions in the afternoon. Georgia was part of the Australia women’s national wheelchair basketball team at the Osaka Cup in Japan in February 2013, and at the Asia-Oceania Zone Qualifiers in Bangkok in November 2013. She played with the Perth Western Stars team that won the Women’s National Wheelchair basketball League championship title in 2013. In additional to being a basketball star, Georgia is also a talented all-round sportswoman who also plays tennis and has broken several swimming records. She graduated from Curtin University in 2017 with a Bachelor in Health Science.
Therapists who attended the session enjoyed a fun afternoon getting up close and personal with a range of manual wheelchairs manufactured by Sunrise Medical, having a go with power add-ons, practicing wheelchair skills, while learning about wheelchair features and how to prescribe a wheelchair to maximize independence, function and long term health.
This workshop ended with some participants becoming masters of riding a wheelie, joystick controls and new believers of power assist.
Do you need help with prescribing a manual wheelchair?
We are here to help you prescribe and script wheelchairs.
View our range of Breezy and Quickie wheelchairs by Sunrise Medical
or call us on 1800 656 654 to make a wheelchair appointment.
What did our attendees have to say?
“The most valuable thing I learned today was self-propelling skills & styles, more about tilt-in-space wheelchairs and adding power assist to manual wheelchairs.”
Brooke S – MSWA OT
“I enjoyed the exposure to so many different wheelchairs and learning about power assist options.”
Andrew F – Indigo Solutions OT
“The most valuable thing I learned today was skills that are required to make the most of a prescribed wheelchair.”
Nancy C – Empower Healthcare OT
“I enjoyed learning practical wheelchair skills to better understand the functional needs of a user.”
Madeleine E – OT West
“The most valuable thing I learned today was clinical considerations for prescribing wheelchairs to assist those ageing with a disability.”
Saoirse D – Juniper OT
“I enjoyed meeting other OTs, experiencing using different wheelchairs and enhancing my knowledge of what to look for when trailing and prescribing wheelchairs for my clients.”
Alicia F – Care Squared OT
Thank you
To all the OTs and PTs who attended this workshop, thank you for your valuable feedback and for spending a day with us to become more intelligent prescribers of manual wheelchairs.
Together with Sunrise Medical, we are glad to be able to host this workshop for your personal and professional development and trust that our education sessions will continue to impact the way you prescribe wheelchairs to achieve better client outcomes.
Missed this session?
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Posted on 22 July 2021