January 16, 2019
Jason Lunn, a board member of Lacombe Health Trust as well as a patient of Lacombe Hospital and Care Centre, demonstrates the LiteGait lifting device.
Written by Amelia Schofield
LACOMBE — Physical therapy patients are enjoying the benefits of LiteGait, a new piece of equipment at Lacombe Hospital and Care Centre.
The LiteGait is a powerful patient lift device which allows physical therapists to get patients up and on their feet — in a safe and fully-supported manner — while they work together to improve their weight-bearing ability, posture and balance.
“It really provides a safe, effective environment to get people walking again — with walking and balance training,” says Patti Vaillant, a physical therapist at the hospital.
Vaillant and her team use the LiteGait with a wide variety of patients, including those who’ve experienced spinal cord injuries and stroke.
The lift raises patients from sitting in a wheelchair to a full standing position over a treadmill, which allows staff to keep patients safely and comfortably suspended on the treadmill, with control over the weight-bearing load on the joints.
Being able to increase or decrease the amount of weight through weakened or injured muscles and joints means walking and balance training can begin earlier in the rehabilitation process for patients, getting them up and mobile sooner adds Valliant.
For individuals like Jason Lunn, the equipment has had a remarkable impact on his life, and has enabled him to practise walking and perform weight-bearing exercises.
“When you’re in a chair every day, if you don’t get out of that position your bone density, your blood pressure and your circulation can be affected,” says Lunn, who suffered an injury in 2011 which left him a quadriplegic. Since then, he’s been undergoing physical therapy to work on his mobility.
“The ability to feel an upright weight bearing sensation has been amazing. And to actually be able to do exercise — while you’re being supported to the point where you don’t have to have three people there to do it safely — feels incredible.”
According to Vaillant, the addition of the LiteGait not only benefits patients, but also healthcare providers.
“This is a really premium piece of equipment. The biggest thing is that it provides the patient the security, which protects the caregivers at the same time.”
The purchase of the LiteGait was made possible through the Lacombe Health Trust and its community of donors. Lunn, who’s also is a member of the Trust’s board of directors, joined after using many pieces of equipment the Trust has funded at the facility over the years.
“They’re amazing. We wouldn’t have what we have, over and above the normal, if it weren’t for the Health Trust,” he says.
“Being born and raised here, I feel comfortable knowing that my kids and my elderly parents can be looked after in my own community, and the fact that we have top-notch equipment at our hospital is so meaningful to me.”
Funding equipment like this is about providing the best possible care in the community adds Jim Dixon Jr., board chair for Lacombe Health Trust.
“We are proud to be able to make it possible for the Lacombe Hospital and Care Centre to provide the community with better healthcare outcomes,” he says. “This new equipment will have a profound impact on patients in long-term care, people living with multiple sclerosis, and those recovering from spinal cord injuries or significant fractures.”
Vaillant and her team have seen firsthand the positive impact that community support brings to the services they provide.
“If you look around our department, there are many things that have come from the Health Trust,” she says. “They recognize the need, and they have a desire, to provide the best that they can for the community. We’re really thankful as a group of therapists. All of us are impacted by the support given to us.”
For more information on how to support Lacombe Health Trust, please visit lacombehealthtrust.com. Visit AHS.ca/give for a full list of Alberta’s health foundations.
