Wheelchair and Seating Clinic Offers Patients New Options

This past spring, the Occupational Medicine team at San Luis Valley Health partnered with an organization called Numotion to provide patients with custom fitted wheelchairs.

On a monthly basis, Numotion technician and therapist Lindsey Ray travels from Colorado Springs to meet with SLV Health’s Dr. T. Kevin Rice and Physical Therapist Liz Drake to perform patient evaluations.

A wheelchair that is properly fitted can dramatically improve a person’s quality of life. Proper positioning prevents medical complications and unnecessary expense.

“We can see kids or the elderly, paraplegics or people suffering from traumatic injuries,” explained Tiffanie Hoover, Occupational Medicine Program Manager. “The clinic is beneficial for new wheelchair users and for current wheelchair users who may need replacement, modified or updated equipment.”

Evaluations are designed for convenience. Numotion handles all of the paperwork and the process is covered by Medicare and Medicaid. All the patient needs to do is spend around an hour seeing the three practitioners.

“Within six weeks, a patient can have a manual or motorized wheelchair that increases their safety and mobility,” explained Hoover.

Currently, the clinic can accommodate four patients in a single afternoon, though they hope to expand if interest grows.

“We want to get the program out to Valley-Wide and other smaller clinics so they can start referring patients to us,” said Hoover.

The next clinic is December 23, and clinics are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Call (719) 589-8110 to make an appointment.