Video: How Lifestyle & Mobility has been going the distance to help customers achieve independence
The team at Lifestyle & Mobility recently headed over to Malta to hand over an active wheelchair to one of its customers who had been struggled to find the product that he needed. Darren Macey, Business Development Manager at Lifestyle & Mobility, describes how helping someone really in need of its services was a highlight for himself and the team.
By Darren Macey
Back in 2018 we were approached by a customer called Christian. He was desperate to find an active wheelchair for his brother Luca and they loved Sunrise Medical’s Quickie Wheelchair range as they needed something that was lightweight and foldable.
He explained to us that they live in Malta and they couldn’t get anyone on the island to help them. The only chairs they could get were very basis and cumbersome wheelchairs, which he had been using for years. He explained he had tried other neighbouring countries, such as Italy, Greece, France and Germany, but no one could help him.
My father was born in Malta, so it always has a place in my heart. I was very keen to make this happen and help them out.
We said we would only help if they had an occupational therapist (OT) to take measurements and assist the other end. It was quite a long process, but we finally got there!
We were originally going to send over the wheelchair in a box. In the end we decided it would be fantastic to hand over the chair in person. We were actually so pleased that we did as we had to make some adjustments and alterations whilst we were there as the OT had mis-measured slightly. After some adjustments, we fixed the issue.
Four years on they contacted us again about purchasing a second chair and we went through the whole process again. It was lovely that they felt they could come back to us. This time round, it was much easier and plain sailing for us, as we knew exactly what we were going into.
We also had the power of technology, which has massively advanced since then and enabled us to really get accurate measurements and specification. When we arrived in early October the family couldn’t have been more grateful to us. They really treated us like family and it was great to see them all again.
Luca is a massive Marvel fan and the new colour scheme of the Quickie Xenon 2 Active Wheelchair was in keeping with that. We also made a custom-padded footboard for it, as he is barefoot a lot of the time due to the heat.
We took the opportunity to get some original photographs for our website and we were able to do a video blog for our social media channels.
The great thing about our industry is how every day is so different to the last and these two trips have definitely been a highlight for the team at Lifestyle & Mobility. Not because it meant going abroad, but being able to help someone that was really in need of our services and being the only people to help them obtain true independence in Europe.
Watch the video below to see the team from Lifestyle & Mobility head to Malta to hand over the Quickie Xenon 2 Active Wheelchair.
Lifestyle and Mobility was founded in 2002 by Ron Sverdloff and is now managed by Managing Director Aaron Sverdloff. The mobility retailer has stores in Bournemouth and across the South East, in Basildon, Welwyn Garden City, Southend-on-Sea and Harlow.
