The lady had suffered from sepsis and, as a consequence, had lost both hands and both feet. The NHS were able to provide a wheelchair and later prosthetic legs but had little to offer in the short term to provide hand functions. We were able to provide basic implements to enable her to feed herself, brush her hair, and to write birthday cards and sign cheques.
Following a serious accident, the client is unable to raise his hands to his face and accordingly is unable to feed himself using conventional cutlery. A long-handled fork was made for him which has proved successful, but he would like the additional flexibility offered by a spoon. A long-handled spoon is not viable so a means of raising a spoon from the plate to the mouth was needed which maintained the spoon in a horizontal position throughout. Enter the ‘Spork-lift’!
The client only has use of his left hand and feeding himself was difficult. His right hand would spasm and knock any tray or plate away from him. He also wished to move the plate away from him when he had finished his meal. A wooden table was constructed with a sliding top released by […]
Garry, who has muscular dystrophy, required a shelf near his microwave as he had difficulty carrying hot dishes from the microwave to his table. Part of the problem was resolved by changing the position of his microwave. A shelf was made to sit the microwave on with a sliding shelf beneath allowing Garry to sit […]
This lady has little strength in her hands and wrists and was unable to remove containerised meals from a microwave oven and transfer food to a bowl. A device was produced which holds the container when slid out of the oven and tilts it so that the contents can be scraped into a bowl. The […]
Client has arthrogryposis which limits his upper limb and hand functions making eating from a plate at table level very difficult. A wooden tower was made to support the food plate nearer to mouth level. A mechanical lever mechanism enables the spoon or fork to be manipulated normally at plate and mouth level from a […]
The client was unable to grip cutlery normally, so help was requested. The solution was to add loops to two sets of cutlery through which, with help, he could slide his fingers. The loops were made from copper tube, and silver soldered to the cutlery. The cutlery was then plastic coated to provide a pleasing […]
A wheelchair using client with multiple sclerosis has poor grip and shaking hands and was unable to feed self unless plates and bowls were positioned at functional height and stabilised to avoid spillage. MDF was used to make a tray to fit over the existing wheelchair tray with blocks and clips to secure. The tray […]
Hazel, who has motor neurone disease, could not lift her arms far and had very little grip. Consequently she had to be fed by her husband. She wanted to be more independent for both eating and drinking. A machine was made which used a pair of pivoted arms to lift a carriage holding a spoon […]
A young student with motor difficulties needed help to hold his plate at school mealtimes. An Anglepoise lamp was modified to hold his plate, with a simple locking mechanism to fix its position. The student is now able to feed himself at school from the securely supported plate.
The local hospital has people who needed to be fed by a bag and tube system but had no way to enable wheelchair users in their care to go outside in good weather as no support device was available to fit to wheelchairs. A support pole was made to carry the battery powered feed controller […]
The client has insufficient limb movement to feed himself. The equipment must fit onto his wheelchair tray. The lower left arm is supported by a gutter which the client can raise and lower by two push-buttons operated by his left hand, enabling him to raise food to his mouth. The food dish fits onto an […]
A feeding device for motor neurone disease patients was required by a local hospital. The device needed to be able to be used by the patients either standing, sitting or lying down and the physical input required to operate the device had to be kept to the minimum. The design uses the patient’s arm as […]
The client has motor neurone disease and requires a commercial electric feeder to eat without assistance. As the spoon has to be shallow to collect the food, soft foods and liquids caused problems. He also had difficulty in accessing a drink during his meal. A contoured shelf to follow the spoon path was made from […]
The 4 year old client was born with no fingers on her right hand. At an early age, toes were transferred on either side of the hand to provide fingers. At age 3, she wanted a knife she could hold, as a buffer and for pushing and cutting her food like her peers at meal […]
The client, who has motor neurone disease, had difficulty in holding his spoon. This was solved by making a light aluminium frame with two apertures into which he could insert his thumb and forefinger, a spoon with an extended handle being taped to the unit. The other part of the system consisted of a hinged […]
