TRURO, N.S. — Sandra Finney was like a child on Christmas morning as she waited for her new electric wheelchair.
The shiny new chair finally arrived at her home the morning of June 20.
“This is so exciting,” said Finney, leaning over the railing at her apartment building as the chair was unloaded. “I found out a while ago that it was coming and then it just seemed like a long wait. This is a big day.”
Finney, who lost her left arm and leg in an accident when she was a teenager, feared she’d be trapped in her apartment, as she could no longer keep her old chair running.
Brad Reid, a rehab specialist with Harding Medical, read the article about her in a March issue of the Truro News and felt he could help. With help from private donors and some of his own funds he was able to get the chair the Truro woman needed.
Finney was full of smiles as she watched Reid make adjustments to the chair, a Quantum Q6 Edge 3, by Pride Mobility.
“The blue is so pretty,” she said. “It looks so nice and I’ll be able to get wherever I have to go now.”
Reid has known Finney for a few years, as he used to do repairs to her old chair when he worked with MacQuarrie’s Pharmasave.
“It was amazing and truly made me happy to see her with her new chair,” he said. “Sandra is one of the strongest-willed people I’ve ever met. She always seems to be in a good mood and always has a smile on her face. People like her and the outcome we achieved is exactly why I got into being a rehab specialist.”
Finney gave her chair a good workout on the first day.
“I was out until 6,” she said. “It’s fantastic. There’s no rattling and it’s nice and smooth. I really like it a lot and I’m grateful to everyone who helped me get it.”
The chair is equipped with LED lights that automatically come on when the chair is turned on so going out in low light conditions will be safer. The chairs cost about $7,000, depending on add-ons.
