Thanks everyone, for the great responses to my question about wheelchairs for public use in the library! Below is my original question and the responses. WHEELCHAIR USE AT THE LIBRARY November 15, 2017 Q: Does anyone have a wheelchair for the public to use while in the library? If so, for what purpose is it used? We have a patron who is requesting that we get one and I'm wondering if others have had the same request and if you have one already. If you have one, were you able to get it donated? Probably not of much use, but we neither have one nor have we had a request for one. We did have someone suggest we needed carts--like shopping carts they have in bookstores(?)--but we did not act on that suggestion. When I was at Baldwin we had a similar request. Our senior center had a spare they donated to the library. We kept it in a closet and made it available if anyone requested a wheelchair while in the building. We do have one, and I believe it was donated. You might want to check with your Senior Center (if you have one nearby) as ours gets a lot of items donated to them when people pass away (like shower chairs, wheel chairs, etc.) Yes, we do. We borrowed it from the local Senior Center a couple of years ago for a specific homeless patron. We used it that winter, and when we tried to return it, the Senior Center made it a "permanent loan." We rarely use it, but it is fabulous to have on hand when you need it. Feel free to call if you want to talk. We have one available for use in the building for anyone in need. It was donated by an individual who no longer needed it. But if you want to buy a simple, folding one, they're about $85. Ours has only been used a handful of times in the past 8 years. Our local senior center (Highland Activity Center) keeps a 'medical supply closet' of donations and they passed along a wheelchair to us - many years back. It is not new or fancy, but it is a wheelchair and it came to us at no cost. And it works. We've only used a couple/few times over several years that i can recall. Circumstances were something like an occasion one someone became faint, possibly something like an occasion when someone turned an ankle, and once to help someone who appeared frail and slow moving to have easier mobility. It is not used by any one person on a regular ongoing basis. We have one that has been with us forever and I have no idea how it came to be at the library. We have only used it very, very occasionally when there has been someone twisting an ankle, etc. We generally keep it in the library storage area so staff fetch it when the need arises. We have a wheelchair and it is seldom used. We have two electric carts, which are used a LOT! I'd skip the chair and go for the electric scooter. They are pricey ($4,000 - $5,000), but our Friends bought the first one and a scooter store donated the second one. If you get a new one get the heavy duty model. The lighter weight models get flat tires all the time because heavy people tend to ride in them. Your local senior center probably has closets full of donated wheelchairs, walkers and other stuff. I would love to know the responses that you get to this. We have discussed as a staff about getting a wheel chair and/or walker for library use for patrons who struggle. We have one that we got donated by a resident. We just put the request in our city's magazine and someone donated one. It doesn't get used much because it is just a regular wheelchair, not a powered scooter. We're happy we can still offer it though! We have one for each floor, but only because we salvaged 2 of them from the Northland Mall when it closed. Before that we had one that was for all 3 floors, which wasn't the most effective. We use them if someone asks for assistance or if someone feels ill and can't walk to their car. (A family member can then push them.) If someone is using a walker and seems to be having trouble, we might offer the use of a wheelchair. Honestly, they are seldom used. But we are glad to have them. We had one at Wayne. It was donated. I don't remember anyone using it though. Do not have one, and in all the years I have been here, has anyone requested one. Cascade Township branch has had a wheelchair for approx. 20 years. Our first chair was purchased by our Friends. It lasted about 15 years. The second chair was again purchased by our Friends, in cooperation with Airway Oxygen, a local medical supply house, who sold it to us at cost. The new one is a wide chair as the old one was not big enough. We consider our wheel chair, our walker and 3 smaller shopping carts donated by Meijer to be critical for services to seniors in our 20,000 sf building. The wheel chair and walker are used a couple of times per week, the shopping carts are used hourly. We had a shopping cart from Demco, but it was not sturdy and did not provide stability, so we got rid of it. It is used by people who need assistance getting around our building…..from seniors to kids who break legs. None of our assistance equipment goes outside, esp in winter. Staff will walk patron or materials out to cars. We have two wheelchairs for public use. They aren’t used often, but enough that I’m glad we have them. Also, this summer, we got a small shopping cart for patrons. It’s used a lot more than the wheelchairs. Same here. The mini carts are very popular. We have a wheelchair and have for a long time. I believe it was donated by our local Hospice. It is not used very often. More often, kids play on it. It is kept in lobby within our coat rack. We have a small cart as well and that is probably used more often by people needing stability. We have one in our library. We got it when we decided to lock a second door for security puposes. Youd have thought the world ended when we did that with the number of complaints we had about how much farther people had to walk to get in the building from parking (an additional 20 feet). We got it donated by a local medical supply place and we added signage that indicated that it was generously donated by them. It has come in handy several times since then. Patty Patty Braden, Director Romulus Public Library 11121 Wayne Road Romulus, MI 48174 734-942-7589 www.romuluslibrary.org
