(Pictured left to right: Brooke Thompson, PTA; Ally Adams, Nasco; Kaitlyn Hunt; Patty Kelsey, Nasco; and Adria Hawthorne, OT.)
A need for a unique item has created a collaboration between the local hospital and a local manufacturer.
Adria Hawthorne, Occupational Therapist at Daviess Community Hospital’s CORE Center, has a special friend who had a dilemma. “One of our young patients who uses a wheelchair was having trouble managing a backpack for her school supplies,” she said. “Her mother had searched for a pack to fit on the wheel, but most are designed for adult-sized wheelchairs and the hard-to-find pediatric versions are very expensive.”
Adria contacted Ally Adams (HR Manager at Nasco Industries), to ask if the company had any interest in making a special type of backpack that could be affixed to a wheel of a small wheelchair. “Adria gave me the dimensions of the wheel and I talked it over with Patty Kelsey, Nasco’s Style and Design Manager,” said Ally. “She not only said it could be done, but had the pack designed, created and ready for use within one day!”
The “wheelpack” is made from the same material used to make many of the raingear products in the Nasco product catalog. “This material is light, yet strong and 100% waterproof,” Patty Kelsey stated. The pack features three zippers for different compartments to separate pencils, erasers, folders and even can accommodate a Chromebook. The Nasco team has offered to make a second pack for the other wheel if Kaitlyn has the need for more storage space.
Kaitlyn, the young patient, is happy to have the new pack and looks forward to using it when she starts school this year.
