Alton, Here is a website that shows the type of wheelchair cushion I have used now for 5 years. I don't use the wheelchair except for long long distances, eg zoo, parks etc. However I take the cushion with me to restaurants, movies, airplanes, to appointments, homes etc where I think I may have to sit on a non-cushioned surface. It has been a godsend to me. I cannot stand to sit (or should I say I choose to stand) on hard surfaces at all. My cushion was purchased at the time I got the wheelchair. I had tried at least 10 different cushions while in the hospital and the therapists were trying to find one that was comfortable for me. I was in hospital 2 months at that time. I googled this and here is what I found and it is the same one I use. However, if memory serves me right mine was $400. at that time. I see you can get it much cheaper in the USA.
http://www.allegromedical.com/cushions-covers-backs-c544/relax-gelcell-cushion-p500259.html Heather in Calgary ----- Original Message ----- From: Alton Ryder To: Westgold Cc: TMIC Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 5:37 AM Subject: Re: [TMIC] gel cushion I'm not that heavy, but after a decade in a wheelchair, I have insufficient muscles to pad the ischial protuberances - to sit on a firm chair is intolerable after just a few minutes. Yet, I sit all day, every day. The key is a cushion. Included below is a note I wrote last February. Alton, a geezer of 73 who has lost muscle mass with age From: Alton Ryder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: February 27, 2008 8:30:35 AM EST To: TMIC List <tmic-list@eskimo.com> Subject: Re: [TMIC] gel cushion I have used gel cushions from Jay for a decade. The primary use is in my wheelchairs, but I have used them in restaurants. Being in a chair leads to atrophy of the butt muscles, and these muscles pad the ischial protuberances. The first came with the manual chair in the summer of '92, model, J2. This had the gel in less than a dozen large, shaped compartments. After three years the gel had hardened; the cushion discarded, the cover, still in good shape, retained. The second, a JAY Gel, is under me now. I have two chairs, the old, manual chair for traveling, the power chair for use at home, highway travel, cemetery work, cross-lawn travel, and bull-dozing furniture and the toilet bowl. The cushion that came with the chair is junk, a stiff cushion on a rigid steel plate, a butt killer - the supplier was saving pennies at my expense. So I use the new Jay on top of it. That isn't quite sufficient, so I frequently put a third cushion on top of the other two. When I travel, the Jay Gel is the only cushion on the fabric sling of the folding chair. Ahh, pure comfort, like a hand in an old glove. I can sit all day in that chair and often do. All three cushions are rather heavy, and the covers have a loop handle in the front. The handle is used to move the cushion and to serve as an anchor for my night bag. Couldn't do without the handle. I shall solve the comfort problem, either with a new base cushion or with a home-made sling. Medicare reimburses me for cushions. Alton
