The Wheelchair Recycler
By Liz Beaulieu, Editor
Updated Fri August 28, 2009
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If NRRTS wants more consumers to participate in its CELA lobbying day on Capitol Hill, I think Simon Margolis should call David "The Wheelchair Recycler" Heim, who has been in a wheelchair since a car accident in 1995.
I first read about Heim in the Boston Globe earlier this year. The Jan. 29 article detailed how he had just re-opened his business repairing and refurbishing wheelchairs and providing them to people for affordable costs. He had temporarily closed the company because he didn't have the space or money to keep up with demand.
I read about him again this week in USA Today. It turns out that he has received grants from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and has moved into his own 1,000 square foot space. He even has vans to pick up donated chairs.
Heim has helped more than 500 people get wheelchairs since he started his company in 1998.
Don't you think Heim would have quite a story to tell lawmakers? Coverage for power wheelchairs is so poor—often insurance will only pay a fraction of the $5,000 to $25,000 price tag—that there's a need for someone like Heim, a need that he has a hard time keeping up with.
Liz Beaulieu
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