Power wheelchairs

Yes. Power wheelchairs are an Assistive Devices Program category, and for an eligible applicant the program contributes up to 75 percent of the approved device cost. Positioning devices such as cushions, backrests and powered tilt and recline are funded as well. You must be an Ontario resident with a valid health card and need the chair for six months or longer, and an ADP-registered authorizer has to assess you. We are an authorized vendor and file the paperwork.

It varies widely with the frame, the drive configuration and the seating, and the seating is often a larger share of the total than people expect. What matters more is what you pay after funding. We price the chair and the ADP contribution together at the assessment so you see the real number rather than a list price.

Mid wheel drive puts the powered wheels under the middle of the chair, which gives the tightest turning circle of the three arrangements. If your life is mostly indoors, in a house with normal doorways and a bathroom to get into, it is usually the right answer. If you spend most of your time outdoors on rough ground, rear wheel drive tracks better.

That is exactly what we measure at the assessment. Overall width, turning circle and the tightest doorway or corner in your home all get checked before anything is ordered. It is the most common reason a chair bought online has to go back.

A folding or travel powerchair can, and that is the point of them. They fold or dismantle into a boot and are light enough to lift. A full size mid wheel drive chair cannot, and needs either a vehicle with a ramp or a hoist. Tell us how you travel, because it changes the recommendation completely.

Range depends on the battery, the terrain, the weight carried and the temperature, and manufacturer figures are measured under ideal conditions. Cold weather in particular reduces it noticeably. We will talk through your typical day and specify batteries against that rather than against a brochure number.

Yes, and you should. Come to the Brampton showroom and drive them. A powerchair feels completely different to sit in and control than it looks in a photograph, and joystick sensitivity alone is worth experiencing before you commit.

For ADP funding, yes. An ADP-registered occupational therapist or physiotherapist has to assess and authorize the device, and we work with several across the GTA who do. If you are buying privately you do not need one, though we will still measure properly before recommending anything.

Powered tilt tips the whole seat back as a unit, moving load off the sitting bones without changing your position in the chair. For someone who cannot shift their own weight, it is what prevents pressure injury, and it is an ADP-funded positioning device. If you can reposition yourself, you do not need it.

We service what we sell, from Brampton, across the GTA. Powerchairs need batteries replacing periodically and occasionally controllers or motors. Because we carry several manufacturers we hold the common parts rather than ordering everything in. Note that ADP does not fund repair costs.

Sometimes, when a refurbished chair comes back to us in good condition and can be properly serviced. Availability changes constantly, so call and ask what is in stock rather than relying on the website. Everything used is checked and serviced before resale.

It varies by time of year and no honest supplier will promise you a date. What we can control is submitting correctly the first time, which is the single biggest factor, and following up rather than leaving it in a queue. Where waiting is a problem we can often rent a chair in the meantime.