NCART Fly-In Draws Crowd

WASHINGTON–It’s not every day the HME industry can get five
lawmakers and 45 congressional aides to leave their offices and
walk over to an adjacent office building to learn about rehab
equipment.

But House members did just that last month at the National
Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology Congressional Fly-In,
held Feb. 14-15 at the Rayburn Office Building near the Capitol.
Eighty-eight people registered for the event, which was essentially
a show-and-tell of rehab technology. Consumers, along physical and
occupational therapists, were able to show lawmakers and their
staffers the what’s, how’s and why’s behind individual rehab
technology assessments.

The association set up various stations to demonstrate different
types of rehab and mobility assistance. One focused on the
technical assessment a rehab technology supplier performs. Another
featured seating and positioning technology, while others focused
on alternative positioning and standing devices. At each station,
end-users and clinicians showed how each piece of equipment can
make a person more independent.

Congress members who attended included Reps. Howard Coble,
R-N.C.; Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa.; James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.; Jim
Cooper, D-Tenn.; and Katherine Harris, R-Fla.

NCART Executive Director Sharon Hildebrandt said the event
served as a valuable educational opportunity for lawmakers and
their aides. “They had no idea rehab and assistive technology was
as [complex] as it was,” she said. Before the event, “they just
thought, ‘a power wheelchair is a power wheelchair is a power
wheelchair.’”