PHOENIX – HME providers descended on Medtrade in Phoenix earlier this month looking for innovative products. When organizers tallied the votes in the New Product Pavilion Providers’ Choice Awards (sponsored by HomeCare Magazine), Medtrade exhibitor Rehasense USA took the Provider’s Choice Gold for its PAWS Power Assist, a line of motorized add-ons for manual wheelchairs.
Attendees singled out the Eco Assist, a small travel version that clamps onto the front wheel of any chair. It has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $3,800 and some of the larger units can accommodate rougher roads and accelerate past 20 mph.
Many providers know Rehasense USA (Romeoville, Ill.) from its mass production of rollators. The PAWS Power Assist benefits from the same European design and well-developed manufacturing experience. “Basically you can take a manual wheelchair and turn it into an e-bicycle,” says Matt Fitman, president (pictured center at Medtrade with members of the team). “You can just attach it onto a manual chair, do up to 20 mph and 25 miles on a single charge. Adding power to manual wheelchairs gives users the ability to go further without the physical exertion of getting there.
The product at Medtrade that gained the most attention is the travel version of PAWS Power Assist. “It is a very compact and lightweight unit that has lots of capabilities to attach to a wheelchair, yet can still fold up and get into a trunk of a car,” Fitman explains. “If you’re traveling with it, it has a case to go onto a plane. It can go in the overhead. The Eco can do up to 12 miles an hour and about 16 miles of battery range—while taking up very little space.”
Medtrade attendees saw the capabilities right away, particularly the freedom and independence that the Eco could bring. “It truly is a life-changing product,” Fitman enthuses. “People can immediately recognize what it does and what it is, and then how easily it can attach to a different chair. We got great reception and great response to our products at Medtrade and we could not be happier.”
