Curved stairlift has been amazing for my mom
In late July, my mom broke her right arm. It happened on the staircase at my parents' home.
Since then, she has been apprehensive using said staircase. I don't blame her, despite making an impressive recovery.
We got an occupational therapist (OT) assigned to us. She visited my parents' place and suggested getting a stairlift. She said that the March of Dimes (MoD) had a home and vehicle modification program. You had to get a stairlift estimate and fill out a form.
She gave me a list of vendors. It was for everything from walking canes to stairlifts. I had to sift through it to find maybe five stairlift vendors. I contacted all five to see who would reply. The first one was Mobility 101. This location in Pickering serves eastern Ontario.
James called me. He is a mobility consultant who filled me in on the MoD process. Our OT never said who would fill out the application. With his expertise, he said that she would the one and I'd simply forward his estimate with photos to her.
We arranged for a time and date for him to come over to my parents' place to take a look at the curved staircase. It's more money and complex to have a stairlift for a curved one.
What was great about James was his sending me his bio with a photo before his visit. It was a nice touch.
He came over. He was friendly and knowledgeable. He looked at the staircase, and let us know how much it would be and what options we had.
He managed to get the estimate down to $16,000. Stairlifts aren't cheap! He took photos and provided more details about Mobility 101.
I sent his estimate and photos to the OT. That's when she sent me the income limits. I wish that I had them earlier. Both my parents are retired, but their income exceeds the MoD's limit to be eligible for stairlift funding.
I was bummed out. My parents were okay shelling out for the stairlift. Our OT said that we should apply for the Home Accessibility Tax Credit when my parents do their 2025 income tax return. They may be able to get some money back.
James made an appointment to get Matt, the owner, to come over to photo-survey the staircase. I also got Matt's bio from James.
James came over with his gear. He has an application, a scanner, and a laptop that captures staircase measurements based on markers that he places on the staircase. Sadly, when he booted up his laptop, it was dead. The battery had drained and he didn't bring his charger with him.
Bummer. It was a Friday. We rescheduled for Monday. He said 1:30 pm. It turned out that his appointment before ours had ended early. He called me to say that he'd show up almost an hour earlier.
He did have a fully charged laptop and let me observe his scanning process. I liked that he let me see the entire process.
This appointment required paying 50% of the stairlift. After its installation, the other 50% of the payment was needed.
Technology is interesting. Getting measurements through scanning markers was cool. Getting my dad to make these two payments through the app on my phone was another. We got it done!
James had extremely accurate estimates on when things would be done. My dad is super anxious about dates and seemed to want everything now.
Matt had buffers in place. He said that he'd send me the final measurements of the stairlift after engineers vetted it. Once we approved them, he'd move the stairlift into production, which would take between two to three weeks. It only took a week to complete!
I got a call last Friday to set up installation for Tuesday at 10 am. I let the person on the other end (I forget his name) that I had a dental appointment that typically ends at 10 am. I asked if we could do 10:30 am. Yes!
I got an estimate of four hours to install and train us on how to use the stairlift. It was much appreciated. It allowed plenty of time to remove the railing on the wall where the stairlift track would be installed.
Matt and Larry were the two installers. They were careful to lay down mats on the hardwood floor with their tools and parts.
They worked diligently to get the stairlift installed. They consulted with us on a few details, such as where the charging station would be (ground floor) and more.
Larry did the training. He was thorough with the demo, which included my taking the stairlift up and down. It felt like a relaxed amusement park ride. It was smooth.
He works part-time as a tradesman. It explains why I didn't get his bio. I got it verbally, which I liked.
If you need a stairlift, I'd highly recommend 101 Mobility in Pickering. They care and are competent. The stairlift has been great so far with helping my mom move between two floors with ease and without any apprehension.
