Grandma Moved Uptown

Gertrude Gray of Festus, MO had been in a manual wheelchair for 5 years. Chemotherapy had left her with damaged bones in her foot, and a bad fall broke one of her legs above and below the knee. All of the trauma had made it difficult to walk without the help of a walker and most of the time she had to use a wheelchair. So many years in the wheelchair came with new problems. "My arms just got worn out with that old wheelchair," says Gertrude. Her osteoarthritis, along with tendonitis in her elbow, had gotten so bad that her doctor wanted her to use her left arm as little as possible. Just getting around the house was getting harder and harder.

Fortunately last month when she discovered Open-Aire Mobility Division, a solution was offered in the form of a power wheelchair. Still she was nervous about getting her hopes up. "Medicare can be hard to work with, and I didn’t want to raise my hopes too high," she says. However her Open-Aire case manager was able to work with her doctor and Medicare and in just over a month she received her new power wheelchair.

Now Gertrude is able to get around the house without trouble, and without straining her arms as she did with her old manual wheelchair. Her family is also very impressed with her new power wheelchair. "All my grandkids think it’s cool. They see me in it and think grandma moved uptown!"