Seating & Positioning: Mobile Clinic
With clinics in each of the three grand divisions of Tennessee, DIDD has seating and positioning services relatively close to anyone who needs them, but in some areas of the state, especially in east Tennessee, the drive to get to a clinic in Greeneville or Nashville is often more than two hours. Spending this amount of time on the road to and from a clinic can put a strain on a person's already stressed body. For this reason, the mobile clinic currently operates primarily in the east region
Through the bidding and procurement process, DIDD worked with Nomad GCS to meet the specifications and unique requirements of a mobile seating and positioning clinic. The clinic is essentially a module that rides on a standard 3-axle CDL Class B chassis. Inside the clinic, there are 2 main areas: a production area and a clinic area.
The clinic area is the more spacious of the two zones. It includes an articulated wheelchair lift that extends out of the back of the rig and down to the ground to lift people and equipment into the clinic. The clinic area also includes a ceiling lift to help people in and out of their equipment, a mat table for use during appointments, mounting rails to secure equipment during transport, desk space for the clinician to use during and after appointments, and a small sink.
The production area includes a band saw, an in-floor equipment lift, a work bench, and storage for tools, materials and equipment. It also has a pocket door so the area can be closed off for privacy or noise reasons.
Throughout the mobile clinic, there are three A/C and heating units with individual thermostats to keep the temperature comfortable and switchable LED lights. The mobile clinic also has an extremely powerful generator to ensure that its equipment can function in any environment.
The Seating and Positioning Mobile Clinic is capable of providing comprehensive wheelchair seating and therapeutic positioning evaluations, planar and custom molded seating simulation, seating system fittings, minor wheelchair maintenance, and possibly alternative positioning simulation and fittings.
The dimensions of the clinic are 43 feet long, 9.5 feet wide, and 13.7 feet high. The wheelchair lift on the back requires an additional 10 feet of space in length to operate and allow for loading and unloading for a total length requirement of 53 feet. There is also a side door with stairs and a retractable awning that can be used to provide protection from the elements. In order to use the clinic safely, we require adequate access and level parking. If you believe that it will be difficult to gain access to your facility or home, including challenging local roads, please call us so we can determine if there are other routes we can take or options for parking. If it is determined that a location is not accessible, we will work to make alternative arrangements.
The smaller size of the mobile clinic and the need to transport multiple pieces of equipment within the mobile unit, may limit the services we are able to provide. This may necessitate travel to the clinic in Greeneville for some appointments. The mobile clinic is not designed to provide emergency care, repairs, recovering equipment, modifications to bathing equipment, or sewing large pieces of equipment.
Scheduling will be completed by the East Clinic secretary on a weekly basis. Prioritization will include: patients confined to the home, groups of two or more individuals, locations more than two hours from the clinic. The clinic will make plans to travel to various pre-arranged hubs throughout the region in order to provide services to multiple individuals from the surrounding areas in one day in order to maximize efficiency. Scheduling for these sites will be coordinated with host agencies.