Electric Wheelchairs/power Chairs, Can You Go Out In Rain

Hi Roomie,
Hope someone can answer this question..if not let me know and I will investigate and find out for you..

Take care

Hi Liz! Do you still have the paperwork or the company name that made the chair? You might be able to find out online by typing in the company name and emailing them or either calling them to find out all the dangers about the electric chair and the do’s and don’ts with them. You would get better answers from them than us! Unless you have a manual for it! Either way the company that made this should be able to answer that question.

Is it battery operated? If it’s battery operated then it might be okay. My mom uses her golf cart to get around in her yard due to limited walking and goes out in the rain and her is battery operated but plugged into electric to charge up. Hope this helps! Hugs
Linda H

Hi Liz, how’s it going. Guess what, I’ve been wondering about the same thing. We’ll be moving to Seattle this year and drizzle is a way of life there, yuk. Looking at my wheelchair it looks like a light rain won’t hurt it. The motor is enclosed. Carol is going to replace the bag I have hanging from the headrest with a waterproof one.
Take care

Hi guys!

This is kind of an aside, but I figured you guys were experts in scooters. I just got my Mom talked into a scooter because she’s OLD. She’ll be 98 in November! She still lives alone and gets around now using a walker (I got a taste of that last year when I was recovering from GBS!), Anyway, I finally got her to apply for it through medicare and they turned her down! Their reason for the rejection was that she wanted to use it outside. Well duhhhh!
They can’t be that stupid so my Mom must have done something wrong in the application or appied to the wrong people or something. Any ideas???
Cheers!
Johnny Mac

Have her reapply for it but she may also need a doctors note as to why she needs one. Could be only those with permanant disabilities! But that might be why she was denied. She might not have enough listed on the application~ Hope this helps!
Linda H

When I applied for my scooter–I applied to use it at work and was denied as well. The insurance said that the only reason that they can list it as medically necessary is for use inside the home and that these are the medicare rules–which they use for everyone not just those on medicare. Like people never have to go outside to grocery shop or do anything else. So, it is not just specific clueless set of people, the whole system is clueless.
You have two options. One is to apply saying that she will use it in her home. They may have someone come to make sure that her home is accessible for use in the home–wide enough doors and aisles and no steps to get into the home, etc. I went to a wheelchair clinic and got an evaluation in great detail about my medical limitations and argued hard that this was discrimination and self-serving–for the insurance to refuse to allow me to have the ability to continue to work (which I could do very well with the scooter, but not without it) and, thus, lose my insurance. I said that I would not hide the true reason I wanted it and wanted to make a statement about what is right for people with disabilities–that it is not right to have them not work just because they cannot walk the distances needed to do so.
Liz, I do not know about use in the rain. I drive my scooter in the misty rain, but it does not ever rain the way that it does in Florida. I would be really worried about driving through puddles since they scooter sits so low and the electrical system is low to the ground. I would also worry about rain that is hard enough to “stream” because it might get in the cracks of the chassis and short out the electrical system. I know my scooter has no sealant or rain protection in the steering column.
WithHope

Hi: Medicare requires that a person need a scooter to move from room to room in a house in order to pay coverage-in other words you must be so disabled that you cannot walk around in your house without the scooter. So next time she applies she would have to say she required the scooter for inside use. Strange as it seems, I use my scooter more inside than outside, for places like restaurants and movies and malls, etc.
As for the rain, I was told to never use my scooter in rain or snow as it can ruin the battery quickly. Or for that matter to leave it out in the cold which will do the same. Jeff

I was just curious about this. What if a person can walk but at times can’t walk. With my disease there are days where I can walk around the house and then some days I can’t walk. One of my biggest problems is me standing on my feet too long. So it’ hard trying to clean my house when I am in that way.
Having a scooter chair for me would be like having that extra hand to help me get my housework done.
Hmmm! I might check into it! But wonder how much I would end up paying after Medicare! Thanks
Linda H

I’m upset to hear all the denials everyone is receiving from ins and medicare regarding the powerwheels-the excuses they are giving are soo ridiculous. When I get to that stage all I intend on putting as a reason is– to get around because flying is out of the question! I wonder what their response would be.Seriously, if you can’t get around inside your home, then how do they expect you to get around outside the home? And to be able to work? I just don’t understand who makes such decisions. WithHope, I hear your frustration and I’m behind you 100%!Johnny, I know what you are going through. My 97 yr old Great Aunt tried to get one after she fell-she was nearly blind, couldn’t walk anymore due to injuries from fall, and they denied her due to the fact that she was in a care center attached to her apartment building. She couldn’t get around her apt without it and couldn’t return to her apt until she got it-totally messed up system. I hope your Mom will keep trying and succeeds. Take care.

My power chair is an Allure. It’s made so the battery would stay dry if it was in the rain. The demonstrator told me to cut a garbage bag to go over the controls on the arm if I was headed out into the rain. Those controls must stay dry.

Thanks for sharing! I came accross a very interesting website with more info on this product: http://www.medicalexpo.com/medical-manufacturer/electric-wheelchair-2079.html