We are ecstatic at the work produced by Reanna Sawatzky, a volunteer with a mechanical engineering background. Thanks to her handy work we now have a mobile standing frame for Ishvari, our little girl who is not able to stand up on her own.
When Reanna arrived here at Baan Unrak, we were at an impasse. We had seen the impact standing could provide for Ishvari during her most recent hospital visit; she was introduced to a mobile standing frame for the first time, and her response in both attitude and physical stature were both positive. The challenge was in bringing the same type of chair to the home. We could not purchase it directly from the hospital – the only opportunity to get a proper chair was in an expensive and timely process of shipping one from America. We wanted what was best for Ishvari, but it was unclear how we could accomplish that goal.
Reanna suggested an alternative – she offered to make one herself using an unused traditional wheelchair we had from a very kind donor from Bangkok. Normally prototyping requires many iterations but thanks to her thorough measuring of our child and dubious analysis of available designs from America, after just a few minor adjustments we were able to see the fruits of her labor.
Our excitement continues to grow as Ishvari begins to understand how to move the chair on her own. She spends 30 minutes a day in the chair, and what once took 3 people many minutes to do (position her) now takes one caretaker less than 60 seconds. Special thanks to Reanna, and also to our kind sponsor from Bangkok who was prepared to spend a great deal money to bring the mobile standing frame one from America.
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