Stair Chair
Since my uncle Charlie died from a heart attack last fall, my parents have been worried about my Aunt Martha. Although my aunt is only 52—two years younger than my mother—she was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis a few months back. My parents explained to me that rheumatoid arthritis is a disorder where the joints and surrounding tissue get inflamed and swell up, which can make it difficult and painful to walk. Although Aunt Martha rarely complains, we all know when she’s having a bad day. And now that she’s all alone in her house, mother worries that she might have an accident. Specifically, she worried that her sister might trip and fall on the stairs. That’s why my parents have been looking into buying her a stair chair.
When my mother first told my aunt that they wanted to buy her a stair chair, my aunt was hesitant.
“A stair chair,” she said. “Aren’t those the things old ladies use?”
My mother smiled and assured her that hundreds of thousand of younger people with mobility issues use stair chairs.
Still my aunt shook her head and said, “I’m not an old lady.
But when my mother told her how worried everyone was about her and that they just wanted to make sure that she was safe in her own home, Aunt Martha finally agreed to pick out a stair chair.
My aunt discovered that there are two basic kinds of stair chairs: those that run on batteries and those that run on electricity. The models that run on electricity can be plugged into any standard outlet. But my aunt preferred a stair chair that works on batteries because they don’t have any dangerous trailing cable that guests or pets might trip over. She also wanted one that would fold up, so she wouldn’t have to use it if she didn’t have to.
