Bring Equipment, and They Will Come

Physical Therapist Barbara Crane has always found it difficult to explain her job. She says that the English language can only paint broad brush strokes about what she does day to day.

“All of what we do is very hard to understand when you try to explain it in words, but it’s easy to understand when you actually see it,” says Crane, who is also a professor at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

The problem, Crane and other experts say, creates a fundamental disconnect between the rehab industry and those who regulate it. So this month, the National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology (NCART) is attempting to make the explaining easier. The group is sponsoring its first Rehab Technology Fair and Congressional Fly-in Feb. 14-15 in Washington, D.C.

One of NCART’s objectives has been to carve out rehab technology from DME being considered for competitive bidding, mandated to start phasing in by 2007. To this end, during the fly-in the association will display equipment at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. Attendees will visit congressional representatives and aides at their offices, then escort them to the exhibit area for what is, in essence, a rehab show-and-tell.

“When talking to people on the Hill, it’s been difficult for [legislators] to understand the products we’re talking about and why they’re different from traditional HME,” says NCART Executive Director Sharon Hildebrandt. “So we decided to do a show-and-tell: show them exactly what the [different pieces of] equipment are, why they’re needed, why a technical assessment is needed, why [patients] need to be individually fitted, and to demonstrate the service component.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time a rehab technology fair has been held on the Hill,” Hildebrandt adds.

The association is setting up various stations to demonstrate different types of rehab and mobility assistance. One focuses on the technical assessment a rehab technology supplier (RTS) performs. Another features seating and positioning technology, while others focus on alternative positioning and standing devices. At each station, clinicians, Professor Crane included, show exactly how each piece of equipment — be it a headrest, cushion or tilt-in-space system — makes a person more independent.

Crane adds that, by merely sitting in a wheelchair, a legislator can gain a much deeper understanding of what rehab equipment can accomplish. “If you’ve used a [standard manual] wheelchair and an ultra-light wheelchair and a power wheelchair, you really know what they are and know what they can do.”