Step 1: Portable Patient Lift for Wheelchair

Portable patient lift for wheelchair

There are many items on the market to assist the handicap. However, most of them are quite expensive. Wheelchairs are great they make it possible to get around. Transferring from a wheelchair into a cars seat or to a chair and back is difficult because the levels are different. There are wheelchairs with elevating seats those costs several thousands of dollars out of reach of most people.
There is a inexpensive way to accomplish this. I saw a bathtub lift that is put in a bathtub to lower and raise a person in a tub. Adapted this device to mount onto wheelchair helps to move from one level to another with less effort and it worked great. It can also be used to transfer to car seat and back. This lift was not designed for this purpose if you decide to do this it would be at your own risk. However, both my brother and I use this on a daily bass with no safety concerns. It is easily placed on the wheelchair and it was not necessary to alter the chair in any way. It can also be used to lift you from the floor to a chair or bed etc. This lift comes in sections with a wide range of height adjustments, from as low as 2.3" to as high as 18.8" All the adjustments are made easily using a hand control that is waterproof and it is powered by a quick-charge lithium-ion battery. This bath lift chair is durable, holding individuals weighing up to 300 lbs. It is lightweight at only 20.5 lbs. The chair is very simple to install without any tools due to its simple 2-piece design. The chairs back folds down easily for convenient storage. The width of the seat itself - excluding the flaps is 15.6’’, which is perfect for many customers. The base of the lift is 12.3" wide. Since the base with is only 12.3 inches across which made it quite unstable when not used in a tub attaching a wider base makes it much more stable. I attached a plastic cutting board to the bottom section of the lift to make it more stable. The board must be wide enough to straddle the wheelchairs seat bars and fit between the wheelchair armrest. The dimensions of the wheelchair seat would determine the cutting board dimensions.

Step 2 : Gather supplies
1. Bathtub lift  I purchased the Drive bathtub lift on Amazon or from www.tigermedical.com for $369.00 with free shipping. There are several manufactures of this type of products and companies that sell this in stores or on the Internet Lift comes in to sections   .

2. Plastic Cutting Board
It can be purchased on eBay from ONeill Products Inc http://stores.ebay.com/ONeill-Products-Inc for - Commercial Grade for $14.00 plus $16.02 shipping. 18’’ x18’’ x 1/4" Thick size depends on the size The cutting board must be wide enough to straddle the seat bars and fit between wheelchair armrest Then mount cutting board base onto the bottom section of bathtub lift you could use plywood (However) that would make it much heavier.

It can be purchased on eBay from ONeill Products Inc http://stores.ebay.com/ONeill-Products-Inc for - Commercial Grade for $14.00 plus $16.02 shipping. 18’’ x18’’ x 1/4" Thick size depends on the size The cutting board must be wide enough to straddle the seat bars and fit between wheelchair armrest Then mount cutting board base onto the bottom section of bathtub lift you could use plywood (However)
that would make it much heavier. 3. Machine screws, nuts and washers to fasten bottom section of bathtub lift onto cutting board base Tools you may need: Drill + bits Jigsaw + blade Screwdriver and/or wrench Tape measure or ruler Marker pen or pencil

All Steps
1. Using machine screws or bolts, washers and nuts attach bottom section of bathtub lift to cutting board 2. Connect upper section to lower section of bathtub lift as directed in lift instructions then place lift on wheelchair then you are good to go. Optional items: A second cutting boards and cushion to place on top of lift seat for comfort Again you could use plywood instead of cutting board

If you are handicap you may not be able to do this your self so you may need to hire a handyman or have a friend do it for you