Sidekick just right for Mom
Anna is 86 years old and living independently on the 10th floor of a high-rise. She’s suffered with debilitating osteoarthritis for 10 years. Her balance is poor due to inflammation in the knees and ankles. Her angina causes her to be easily fatigued and winded. With the exception of bringing in a cleaning lady she does her own cooking and cleaning, so mobility and safety in the home in doing the day to day chores is important. Finding the appropriate rollator that would allow her to negotiate turns and tight corners and regain her balance, was very important.
Prior to receiving the Hugo Sidekick Anna used a Bios rollator indoors and a Nexus strictly outdoors for issues of cleanliness. We don’t want to bring something that is used outdoors in wet conditions into the home, and the Nexus is too large for certain corridors of her condominium. To access her bedroom from the hallway, she has to turn through the doorway, and then negotiate around her bed to her night table where she leaves the rollator when she gets seated in her orthopedic bed. This particular Hugo Sidekick does that very well. Sidekick’s dual size wheels allow her to negotiate turns and tight corners around her orthopedic bed and in the kitchen.
The biggest improvement we noticed over her previous unit is braking capability. The Bios skid dangerously on the parquet flooring whereas the Sidekick braking system works very well on both tile flooring and parquet. Sidekick has clips that adhere the cables to the body so they don’t jut out, which solved another big problem with her previous unit’s cables catching on corners.
She’s made use of the material basket at the bottom of the frame which is a good feature. The seat is sufficient should she use it. We assembled the unit in about ten minutes. It was very easy to adjust.
We encourage her to take the rollator with her everywhere and that’s what she’s been doing since receiving the Hugo Sidekick. For the past month we’ve noticed that she’s happier. We’re happier because we feel she’s safer using this particular unit and we solved a problem that’s been ongoing for the past year.
Harrison Fairstein
