Stair Lifts for the Disabled

To be very frank, I came to know about stair lifts when I saw the Oscar winning animated movie 'Up', last year. I kind of laughed seeing the stair lift that Mr. Fredricksen used! However, it raised a few questions in my mind about the stair lifts for disabled and elderly people. When I searched about them a bit more, I learned a really exciting story, that I want to share with you all. Well, stair lifts were created way back during the 1920s, by a Pennsylvania entrepreneur - C.C. Crispen. Mr. Crispen created it, in order to evade the difficulty that one of his friends had, while traveling from one floor to another. Initially, these were called inclinators! Today, these residential elevators are a huge relief for disabled as well as elderly people and hence, they have become more of a necessity rather than a luxury.

Features
Stair lifts for handicapped or elderly people are an excellent choice in order to avoid all sorts of accidents that can happen to them while climbing up or downstairs. These are wheelchair stair lifts that easily carry a person up and down, with help of a mere button. All that you need to do is to make the respective person sit on the chair and push the button. There are various techniques that these elevators work on, such as mains powered, screw driven, rack pinion, running chains, cable hauled, etc. There are two types of the stair lifts, namely the curved and straight ones. Curved stair lifts are used for curved staircases and straight stair lifts are made for straighter staircases. These lifts are made of aluminum/steel and run with both AC and DC motors hence, they are quite durable. You can mount them on either side of the staircase, as per your convenience and home arrangement. However, mounting these chairs on the wall-side of the staircase is found to be even more safe.

Prices
The curved ones come with a security belt and a swivel lock system, that avoids the possibility of accidents. Since wheelchairs are attached with stair lift chairs, one needs to consider the width of the staircases and the chair. In such cases, the best option is to go for foldable wheelchairs. These lifts have cables and they work on hydraulic power. Prices of stair lifts vary as per the specification of that particular location. Hence, prices of both curved as well as straight ones vary accordingly. However, on an average, you may need to spend anywhere between USD 2000 to USD 15,000 for both straight as well as curved stair lifts. These prices do sound over-the-top but looking at the advantages of these chairs, they are worth it.

Options
For those of you who cannot afford these prices but still want to buy stair lifts, definitely have some alternatives available. There are a few brands of stair lifts that offer you a pretty inexpensive range of these lifts on a rental basis. You can either buy reconditioned or used ones for lesser prices too. Since they are used, they come pretty inexpensive and hence, you save about USD 2000 or more with them, while reconditioned stair lifts for wheelchairs and curved stair chair lifts will cost you anywhere between USD 2800 to USD 6400. You can order both indoor as well as outdoor type of stair lifts on rental of about USD 100 per month. However, you might be asked to pay for a few months in advance or deposit a certain amount. If you need to cancel the lift, then you need to give a month's notice.

As you can see, stair lifts for disabled or elderly people are one of the best options that you can bring home to provide relief to a permanently or temporarily ailing person in your family. Take care!