Elderly Challenge - Observation 1

This week I have observed that the elderly have some problems:

1. Mobility

Elderly people are unable to move quickly. As a result, they have to sit in a wheelchair and be dependent on someone else to push them or use a walking stick to walk around. However, both aids are not practical.

Wheelchair:

Problem 1: The wheelchair takes up a lot of space and there must be someone else to push the wheelchair. The elderly also has to get up from the wheelchair at times and sit back down. This is back-breaking work as the elderly is weak and unable to help him/herself to sit down and get up from the wheelchair so easily. They naturally reach out to a sturdy object to support his/her weight on and hoist him/herself on to the sofa/bed/chair/car seat. These are usually not level with the wheelchair and so it makes the job even harder.

Solution 1: The wheelchair could be built in such a way that the height of the wheelchair is adjustable to allow the elderly to hoist him/herself up.

Problem 2: The wheelchair as many people know cannot be used when moving up stairs. Wheelchairs are also very "jerky" when the elderly sit on the wheelchair. When the wheelchair moves over uneven surfaces, the "ride" becomes even more "jerky" for the elderly. The elderly may hit themselves on a hard surface or sharp edge on the wheelchair and hurt him/herself.

Solution 2: There should be more wheels on a wheelchair so that the effect of uneven surface will not affect the elderly so much and cause discomfort to the elderly.

Walking stick: The elderly has to lean on the walking stick for support to lift their "bad" leg and walk. This process is very tedious and the elderly's arm have to be strong to support their weight and we know that their limbs are weak. The walking stick does aid in walking, however, it does not make walking easy especially of you have to climb stairs.

Version 1: Single-Point Cane

As I stated in the previous section, the elderly has to sit down somewhere to rest. However, I have noticed that there are very few benches around the neighbourhood. If and when they sit down, most of them will naturally balance themselves on a nearby object. They usually place the walking stick beside the bench. However, the walking stick usually do not stay there and will drop onto the ground. The elderly will then have to bend down to pick up the walking stick. Some elderly have problems bending down and will most likely hurt themselves while picking up the walking stick.

Solution: The walking stick could have a hook at the end so that the walking stick will be able to be hooked onto the side of the bench and will not drop. (similar to those that are found in hocker-centers)

The walking stick does not provide much support for the elderly as it has only one leg. Thus it is not very stable. The elderly may lose their balance and support their weight on only one end of the walking stick. The walking stick will then give way causing the elderly to fall down and hurt him/herself.

Solution: The elderly should use the walking stick that has more legs to give more support and the elderly will be able to stable themselves if they lose their balance.

Version 2: Quad Cane

It provides the elderly with more support than the Single-Point Cane. The elderly will still have to have strong arms to support him/herself on the walking stick. However, the quad Cane is not useful when the elderly is climbing stairs as it has a large base with many legs.

Solution: Create a walking stick that it able to retract legs so that the user will be able to chose the number of legs that they wish to use to suit their needs.