Jennifer's ePortfolio

PTA 2100 & 2110

Patient Care Skills and Lab

This class incorporated many aspects of caring for patients, from medical terminology and documentation to transferring patients and teaching them to use ambulatory devices. The aspect of the class I found most intriguing was learning about the obstacles people in wheelchairs face. One of our assignments was to check a wheelchair out at the SLCC Redwood campus and complete some specified tasks. It only took a couple of hours, but it really opened my eyes to the difficulties someone in a wheelchair encounters on a daily basis. I have included the reflection I wrote about the experience below. It was enlightening, and helpful to see first hand how the world is set up for people who are able to walk. Our society should be more aware of the needs of the differently abled. Designing buildings and sidewalks that work for people using wheelchairs and other devices would not cause an inconvenience to the rest of us, but could make a huge difference in their lives. We also learned about the ADA's recommendations for buildings and assessed the Jordan campus and our homes. Through these activities I realized that even with compliance to the ADA recommendations, there are many shortcomings in most buildings. This will assist me when working with patients because I now have more of an understanding of the environmental challenges they may face. It really does take walking a mile in someone's shoes (or wheeling a mile in someone's chair) to understand how to design a functional environment.

Great Wheelchair Adventure

Tim and I decided to take the challenge of the Great Wheelchair Adventure after class on September 11. Before we began I thought it would be a relatively easy assignment, and that we'd be able to zoom through all of the activities in no time. It just goes to show how little I understood the obstacles someone in a wheelchair has to face on a regular basis.

During Tim's search for the library book we wandered around the second floor for at least twenty minutes looking for a catalog or something to help us find the location of the book. As the observer I noticed numerous students staring at Tim when he wasn't looking. It made me feel a little weird that he was getting so much attention just because he was in a wheelchair. We finally took the elevator back downstairs to ask about the book. When we went to the desk the man Tim talked to was nice and helpful, but Tim said he thought that the man had been looking at him strangely. As we were exiting the elevator, some people were trying to get on and the nearly walked right into Tim, I think because he was lower than their field of vision and they didn't notice him beforehand.

As we continued, I felt like onlookers were judging me because I wasn't helping Tim through doors or pushing his chair. I think that if I hadn't been with him, some of them would have offered to help him. Just outside of the campus we went past a lady with a dog. The dog started barking at Tim, the lady commented that it was because of the wheelchair, which I thought was strange since it seemed like everyone else was going out of their way not to notice the chair.

When we went into Gray Whale the employees were really helpful. One led us to the cd and joked around with us about it. He definitely knew we were doing this as an assignment, so he must have helped students in previous years. As he was helping us I noticed that he easily conversed with me, but didn't really say much to Tim.

When it was my turn to wheel, the first thing I noticed was that I had a completely different point of view than normal. As we looked for the cereal in the supermarket it was more difficult for me to see all of the options, and had I needed something from one of the higher shelves, I wouldn't have been able to reach it. As a vertically challenged person, even when standing, you wouldn't think that would be a new experience. However, normally I am able to use my legs to climb up the shelf or jump up to grab something, and in the chair I had no options like that.

Going back over to the school was an adventure in it's self. The sidewalks are slightly sloped, which made it hard for me to go straight. I had to push forward on one side, and then press my hand against the other side to cause friction and keep it from going as fast. It took a lot of energy and my hand started to get sore from the rubbing. At the intersection there had been an accident and the police had the road closed. People were trying to turn around or bypass the intersection by going into the 7eleven parking lot right at the spot where the rock blocked part of the sidewalk. I had to go through the parking lot, but was scared because there were so many cars and I was low down where they might not be able to see me. I asked Tim to walk right in front of me so they would see him and hopefully notice me following.

We finally made it back to campus and went into the Construction Trades building. It took a few minutes to find the elevator, and when I entered it I decided it was too small to turn the wheelchair around inside, so I had to back into it. It wasn't too difficult to do, and made it easy to exit the elevator. Then we went in search of room 097. I noticed an area in the hallway that had a doorway with a raised area on the floor. It took a little more effort to roll over it , but wasn't a big deal. After that, it was time to try the restroom.... Getting inside was slightly difficult because the door was so heavy, and I had to have both of my arms to maneuver the chair. I used the foot rests to push against the door and forced my way in. When I got to the stall I had a hard time finding the best placement for the chair and maneuvering in the tight space. While I was there, I decided I actually needed to use the restroom. It was nearly impossible for me to adjust my clothing and transfer without the use of my legs. After that ordeal, I washed my hands and went to leave. If only it were that easy. It was time to struggle with the heavy door again, only this time I needed to pull it open. Once I got it open a little bit, I began wedging the chair between the door and frame. Then I braced my hands against both sides of the frame and pulled myself through. Luckily I made it out! All I can say is, it's a good thing I hadn't brought my purse or tried to carry anything, because there's no way I could have held onto it while I was using the restroom. Next we made our way upstairs to the soda machine. I decided not to actually buy one because I did not want to have to use the restroom again, but I checked to see if I could reach the money receptacle and buttons. The only issue would have been leaning way over to grab the soda out of the machine.

While we were going through the buildings I noticed that most of the doorways were wide enough to fit the chair through, but I felt like I might scrape the backs of my hands or arms as I was going through them. I was also irritated by the placement of some of the buttons used to automatically open the doors. When leaving the Applied Technology building I had trouble locating the button because it was slightly behind a large piece of furniture. Another thing that was inconvenient was the location and grade of some of the ramps. Depending on which direction we were coming from, the ramps were not usually located at the doors closest to us. After wheeling halfway around the building to the ramp, I then had to make my way up it. It wouldn't seem steep to someone walking, but most of the ramps were tough to maneuver in the wheelchair. Getting up took a lot of energy, but going down was even worse. I didn't want to pick up too much speed, so I had to press my hands against the wheels causing friction, which really hurt my hands. It made me think of the pedestrian overpasses on Bangerter highway. When I was younger, I had to walk across them a lot. I would get so frustrated, and wonder why it was this long winding ramp, instead of stairs or a shorter steeper ramp. Now I understand.

I was very focused on completing the activities, and didn't notice people treating me differently as a wheelchair user, but that doesn't mean they didn't. I noticed people reacting to Tim while he was in the wheelchair and I don't think he was always aware of it.

I think this assignment was a great learning experience. It's one thing to talk about the challenges someone in a wheelchair faces, but it's much more enlightening to actually experience it. It was definitely tough, especially trying to use the restroom, but it was also fun. I'm glad I had the opportunity to do this, it will help me relate to patients who are wheelchair bound, and better help them because I'm aware of the obstacles they face.