OpusculaRolling along: A tale of two Rollators

I AM, as many of my associates will attest, “unbalanced.” Sometime during my 76-plus years I lost my ability to stand at attention. (I was OK at 17 when I wore Air Force blue, but that was then and this is now.)

No one has been able to determine WHY I can’t stand without support, but I cannot.

Within the confines of the house, I’m pretty much “OK.” I can grab on to something or lean against a wall. But going out of the house — for a walk around the neighborhood or to a store — I need mechanical assistance.

 

 

I USED A CANE for awhile, but there were two main problems.

Problem 1, loose ankle biters. One attacked me — he had to run a full block to get to me — and as I tried to fend him off with the cane, I fell. The mutt’s owner finally arrived on the scene. I got to my feet and promptly fell again. Like my wife’s sneezes, once never is enough.

Problem 2, a lazy foot. Hiking what seemed to be more than a mile from Point A to Point H at Miami International Airport (MIA) my left leg couldn’t lift my foot. The cane was no help. Result: I fell trying to step on a moving walkway, a/k/a pedestrian mover. The folks behind me offered to help me up, but sometimes you need to DIY. Still, it was a nice gesture.

The bottom line was, and remains, that after so many steps, I need to sit a little.

My PCP, a/k/a family doctor, agreed that I was a candidate for a rollator.

A rollator is a walker with three or four wheels.

My insurance carrier agreed and I soon had a Medline rollator (right).

The Medline rollator was a major improvement over the cane — I could rest on the integrated seat. It also proved handy when I went to gatherings (pre Chinese virus) and there were too few chairs: BYOC, Bring Your Own chair.

I still carried the cane slung across the handlebars to fend off ankle biters.

The Medline was fine for short walks on relatively smooth surfaces.

The small, 6-inch, wheels objected to the change between the driveway and the street, and they were not designed for “off road” use.

The main problem, however, was that the handle bars’ maximum height of 35 inches caused me to have pains in my shoulders, neck, and triceps, and caused my sight to be fixed on the ground about three feet in front of the rollator.

In other words, I could not see to take evasive action when approached by a car or a mother pushing a perambulator (while concentrating on her cell phone [right]).

The guy who delivered the Medline told me that if I found the handlebars too low, as he saw I would, that I could replace the unit for one with higher handlebars.

That proved easier said than done, but in the end, a red Drive Nitro Tall RTL 10266-T was delivered.

The Drive Nitro, like the Medline, unfortunately is made in China. It’s design is alleged to be European. It is well thought out. Time will tell if any quality control was implemented anywhere — in China or when the rollator came into the U.S.

The new rollator lists a maximum handle height of 41 inches, a gain of six inches vs. the Medline’s 35-inch maximum height. Handlebar height adjustments area easy with both rollators.

It also has 10-inch circumference front wheels (8-inch in the back) that handle both the transition from driveway to street better, to handle potholes and speed bumps better, and to let me roll on the grass — roll the rollator on the grass.

With the handlebar at maximum elevation (right), I can more comfortably look down the street. Neck and shoulder pain are pretty much history.

I still carry the anti-ankle biter cane. I intend to buy a dollar store cup holder to carry a can of wasp spray. The wasp spray, unlike other aerosols, sprays a tight stream toward the target (ankle biters) vs. other aerosols that spray a mist. Given the 20 and 30 mph “breezes” we get on a typical day, the mist might be blown back on me. At least with the wasp spray I don’t have to wait until my attacker is within cane range. It is against the law to shoot the dog — “discharging a firearm within city limits” my personal LEO advises — but a non-fatal response to an attacking dog seems in order. Never mind that the loose canine’s owner also is breaking the law.

I am keeping the Medline. Because it is smaller, it is easier to put on the flivver’s back seat — and get it out again. The larger Drive Nitro is a pain to load and unload. It fits in my car's trunk — barely unless I remove necessities (jack, jumper cables, etc.) It fits across the back seat, providing the seat back is almost vertical and the front seat leg room is diminished.

The Medline is OK for short trips such as from car to the doctor’s office or similar “short walk” trips.

Longer excursions such as trips to a supermarket or a home improvement store (that’s what Wikipedia calls the likes of Home Depot and Lowe’s) the taller rollator will be used. Both walkers are highly maneuverable.

I generally avoid wandering around the cavernous spaces of a “home improvement” store by ordering on line and collecting my purchases at the service desk. This does not work well for me at the supermarket as I like to examine the items before putting them into a basket sitting on the rollator’s seat.

Both rollators fold up for transport and storage. The Medline’s process is a little easier than the Drive Nitro’s. The latter may require either emptying the provided web carry case or removing it. It’s not a problem to remove the “luggage compartment,” and the carry case has hand holds; just a minor annoyance. (Perhaps I just am easily annoyed.)

The Drive Nitro includes a what-feels-like-metal “lock” to hold the rollator in closed position. The catch works fine as long as the rollator is not picked up. Then, as the Medline, it needs a strap, belt, or rope to keep the legs together. The Medline makes the user provide something — a belt, piece of rope, etc. — to keep it folded. Not the best option, trying to keep the rollator closed with one hand while trying to tie something around it. A third hand would be handy.

Both rollators were provided with decent documentation. The Drive Nitro’s book is a little classier, but both are satisfactory.

The Medline handlebars can be set between 31 and 35 inches high. (The Drive Nitro’s minimum handlebar height is 37 inches; the maximum is 41 inches.)

All-in-all it has been an interesting experience.

 

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Opuscula Patient In the Middle

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WHEN I WAS A YOUNGSTER, back when the ice was starting to melt, I played a game with others my age called Monkey in the Middle. It’s still played today.

Basically, one player is the “monkey in the middle” while two or more players pass an object — usually a ball — around the “monkey” who tries to intercept the object and get out of the middle.

It’s a great game for kids. The really tall kids go on to become NBA players.

 

 

”Monkey in the Middle” is fun when it IS a game.

It is NOT fun when a patient is put in the monkey role.

I recently “graduated” from a cane to a “rollator,” a walker with four wheels (right).

Great idea.

Trouble is, not all rollators are equal — particularly in handle height.

My PCP (Reyes & Reyes in Hollywood FL since we’ll be naming names) ordered a rollator for me via a company called, variously, One Home Medical Equipment or One Homecare Solutions of Miramar FL. One Home something is the only provider my Humana Gold Medicare allows my PCP to use.

Still with me?

There are four entities involved:

The patient (me)
The PCP (Reyes & Reyes)
The vendor (One Home)
The Medicare insurer (Humana).

A fifth entity — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a/k/a CMS — supposedly controls everything Medicare and some things Medicaid.

No, I don’t know why the abbreviation is not CMMS. Government decision.

 

A little history

While walking with a cane, I was threatened by a noisy ankle-biter. Trying to fend off the pest, I lost what little balance I had and fell. The dog’s owner finally collected the animal and I got to my feet.

Unfortunately, for me, one fall leads to another in short order.

I appealed to my PCP, who was aware of my balance issues, that it was time to get a walker.

The walker, a/k/a rollator, was approved by the PCP and ordered from One Home.

Someone from One Home called and asked my height and my weight. Fair questions that I answered honestly.

Within a few days, a rollator was delivered and a gentleman named “Mr. Allen” showed me how to use it.

We both realized that the rollator’s handles were too low for my height. The maximum height of the handles was 35 inches from the floor. We agreed I needed something with higher handles. Mr. Allen told me what to order.

Since I already had the walker I agreed to try it for awhile. He assured me it could be swapped for a different machine later, no problem.

I tried the Drive Medical 507S — you won’t find it on the manufacturer’s site — and discovered

1. It causes pains in my neck

2. It causes pain in the deltoids

3. It puts my normal focus point about three feet in front of the walker; too low to see approaching vehicles — cars, perambulators — and small children not on the lookout for geezers unless I raised my head, putting more strain on my neck.

Bottom line: While I COULD use the walker for a few block tour, more than that and I paid the price.

So,

I asked my PCP to order a replacement rollator and provided the information Mr. Allen had given me.

And I waited.

And waited.

Apparently, One Home or Humana was not satisfied with Mr. Allen’s ID of the taller rollator.

Apparently One Home elected NOT to contact my PCP and tell the office staff (a) what was wrong with the order and (b) how to correct the problem.

Eventually “Eric” from One Home called me and told me — the patient — about the issue.

Why One Home didn’t immediately contact the PCP’s office is beyond my ken.

 

The PCP’s office, per Eric’s instruction to me for the PCP, resubmitted the order for a taller walker — but failed to include the specific item number and UPC code as Eric instructed — and marked it “STAT, 2nd Order.”

No one notified the patient that an order had been (re)submitted.

So I waited and waited and waited some more.

Finally. “Tomeka” from One Home called me and left a message on the machine to call her company.

I called and talked to a person named “Katie.”

AGAIN, WHY IS ONE HOME CALLING THE PATIENT? The problem is between it and the PCP's office.

Katie finally found the paperwork and told me what the PCP’s person must do.

At the risk of being redundant, what can the patient do; this is a PCP matter.

 

We don't have the capability
I asked “Katie” if she could email the requirements to me — obviously One Home cannot contact the PCP. Why?

   No, we don’t have the capability for that, she replied.

I then asked “Katie” if she could send a paper letter to me.

   No, we don’t have the capability for that, she replied.

You might want to read that exchange again; it IS unbelievable.

I asked “Katie” to tell me what the PCP’s staff needed to do, ”by the numbers.”

She apparently was authorized and “had the capability” to do this.

I wrote down, exactly, what she claimed One Home — or maybe Humana — needed and sent this information to my PCP.

WHY ME ?

I’m the patient. It is not my job to order the device (although I can, and may, go buy the unit and be done with the aggravation).

I’m too old to play “Monkey in the middle” with anyone but my grand kids.

When I gave my PCP’s person the rollator ID, again, I suggested she add a second ID. The first ID is for a red-painted walker (right); the second ID is for the same walker, but painted black.

I would hate to think that the order would be rejected again because the requested unit was out of stock — I doubt anyone has the “capability” to make a decision to supply a unit of the other color.

And then I would wait and wait, and wait some more before someone from One Home called to inform the patient that there was a problem with the information the PCP’s office faxed over.

A quick word about Humana

According to my PCP, Humana is the 800 pound gorilla of Medicare insurers in South Florida.

When I signed up with Humana a few years ago, I asked the visiting salesman, Luis Gonsalez, if there was any way I could contact Humana Customer Service other than by telephone. Telephone is the only option. BUT, promised Mr. Gonsalez, I could contact him and he would resolve any issues with Humana.

My only contact with Mr. Gonsalez is when he sends me a Humana birthday card.

I complained early on to Mr. Gonzalez, via email and even USPS mail. His response: nothing, zip, nada, effis (zero).

So much for Humana promises.

Perhaps it might be better to be insured by an “Avis mentality” provider, one that “tries harder.”

Medicare is a profitable business and where there are many Medicare-eligible geezers, the competition for the business is serious.

I have options; perhaps I will exercise them in October (Medicare enrollment period).

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LATER

On April 3 my PCP's office sent, for the THIRD time, an order for the higher-handled rollator.

I have a copy of the fax sent to One Home and a copy of the confirmation that the fax from the PCP was received by One Home.

On April 20 I received a recorded message from Humana that it approved the PCP's service order. Humana never states WHAT the approved service is, just that something ordered by the doctor has been approved.

Has the rollator been approved? So far only Humana and One Home know.

Still, there is hope. One Home took its own sweet time to notify me that the PCP's order was lacking. Maybe the Chinese virus will be blamed.

Meanwhile, I'm confined by City edict to my driveway, so the too low rollator sits unused.

 

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

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