Improve Accessibility with an Automatic Door Opener

If you or a loved one has struggled even once to open a door while in a wheelchair or power scooter, then you know just how much of a difference an automatic door opener can make in easing your daily mobility concerns. At 101 Mobility, our goal is to eliminate obstacles to your mobility and independence. We want you to be free to live the life you want to live.

Our Open Sesame automatic door opener is just one of the ways we help you to get out and enjoy life. This easy to install and operate door opener is designed for both residential and light commercial use and is ideal for those who are done with the struggle of getting through the door each day. With the Open Sesame door opener, just click a button and the device unlocks the door, opens it, holds it open for you to clear the doorway, and then gently closes the door for you. It could not be easier than that.

Installation is easy and does not require an electrician. Normal installation can be completed in approximately two hours. The Open Sesame door opener runs on a 24 volt AC adapter which plugs into the nearest outlet. It comes with a battery backup system which will run the door for a full 24 hours in case of power outages.

These automatic door openers come with a remote control that is easy to use and can be mounted near the door or on your wheelchair or scooter. Designed for easy use, the door opener can be activated from across the home and can be used with the side of the hand, the palm or fingers making it easy for anyone to use.

For more information about the Open Sesame automatic door opener, visit our website or contact the 101 Mobility location nearest you.

101 Mobility Opens First Franchise in Texas

New Company Fills Niche for Home Health Care Mobility Devices in seven (7) Counties, Serving a Population of five (5) Million

Houston resident Deanna Geggatt, a registered nurse and home health care administrator with more than 20 years of experience in the medical field, has taken her compassion for helping the disabled to another level by introducing 101 Mobility to the Houston area. As the first location in the state, 101 Mobility is a franchise provider and installer of affordable brands of mobility and accessibility equipment for the elderly and disabled.

While working as a home health care administrator, Geggatt discovered a void in the home mobility device market.  She found that many patients in need of home mobility devices—such as grab bars, stair lifts, modular ramps, etc.—needed a simple way to choose the right equipment and have it installed quickly and easily.  After researching the options available in the greater Houston-area, she found that consumers in need could either go to small, independent “mom and pop-type” local businesses who at times lacked practical knowledge in mobility-related equipment (because it isn’t their core focus), or they could go to large online distributors who often fail to offer installation or face-to-face-support.

“When the elderly or disabled and their families invest in expensive mobility equipment, they prefer to have local experts install and service as well as provide face-to-face support for ongoing service and repair issues,” Geggatt said.

On August 31, Geggatt, along with her husband Glen, will introduce 101 Mobility to the Houston area, serving a population of more than five million people in seven counties, including Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery and Waller.

101 Mobility is the franchising world’s first full-service sales, service and installation provider of a complete line of mobility and accessibility products and equipment, including stair lifts, auto lifts, ramps, porch lifts, power wheelchairs, scooters and more. By working with patients to identify which home health care devices best suit each individual’s needs, 101 Mobility provides an alternative to group homes and rehabilitation centers by allowing patients to live self-sufficiently in their homes.

The combination of Geggatt’s experience in the home health care industry and Glen’s professional experience working as a contractor serves as the perfect combination for a successful full-service home mobility device business. Glen is also certified as an “Aging-In-Place-Specialist” through the National Association of Homebuilders.

“I think there’s good synergy between Glen and I where I can identify the patients at risk and recommend the right products to them; Glen then brings the technical aspect to the table by handling all the installations,” Geggatt said.

With her background, Geggatt lends her expertise in all things related to home health care mobility to the disabled and senior population throughout the Houston area.

“Our goal is to become a solution that people didn’t have before,” Geggatt said. “There’s not much awareness of what home mobility devices are available to encourage independence and serve as a practical, real alternative to moving to an assisted living facility.”

She continued, “Since we’re part of a larger franchise, we are able to offer better pricing than the small local shops, plus extra support for our customers by tapping into our franchise support network. We hope to develop a strong local business relationship with the community.”

101 Mobility plans for further expansion throughout the state of Texas and is growing rapidly across the Country as well. For more information, visit www.101mobility.com

Meet the Indestructible Andy Campbell

His motto is, “Broken, not Beaten”; and just browsing through his online journal of adventures at www.TheAndyCampbell.com can be exhausting for those of us whose idea of adventure is a weekend Star Wars marathon on Spike TV. Oh yeah, did I mention Andy is confined to a wheelchair?

“Confined” is probably a word best not used in the presence of Andy Campbell. He’s anything but confined – whether he’s scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef; skiing in Steamboat Springs, Colorado; or paragliding over the French countryside.  The story of Andy’s disability goes back to 2004, when he was serving as a Sergeant in the Armed Forces of his home country, Great Britain. A dedicated soldier and Iraq veteran, Andy was rock climbing in the English Peak District, when the belay holding him snapped, sending him plunging into the rocks some 50 feet below. Andy suffered breaks to his legs, hips, pelvis, and spinal column – instantly paralyzing him from the waist down. “Even so, I began the fight to reclaim my sense of adventure from a hospital bed”, says Andy. “Lying immobile flat on my back for almost 5 months while bones healed and re-joined, I dreamt of new ways to explore the world and seek out adventure.

“Seek out adventure he has indeed. Just three months out of the hospital, Andy was on the ski slopes in Sweden, on a specially designed  skiing device called a “SitSki” with the phrase “Die Living” boldly emblazoned on the back. Only 16 months after being resuscitated during surgery after his accident, Andy became the first wheelchair user ever to paraglide from the 6000 ft. Babadag Mountain in southern Turkey; and that’s only the beginning.

In an effort to try and give back to the Edale Mountain Rescue Team that saved his life on the fateful day of his accident, Andy mounted an all-terrain Hand-Cycle, and rode in a fundraiser for the Team, that took him across the entire U.K. – almost 1,000 miles. Andy himself calls the excursion “arm shattering”; and I’m sure that most of us would have a hard time hand pedaling ourselves to the mailbox – much less the length of an entire country!

Andy has shown an unbreakable iron will in the face of all adversity. He has traveled all over the planet exploring, adventuring, and daring himself for the next challenge ahead of him. Some of his excursions include: paragliding over Turkey, swimming with sting-rays in Australia, diving with Great White Sharks in Africa, and Heli-Skiing down the peaks of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. In Andy’s words, the allure of all of this is simply “being outdoors”, which “brings a sense of freedom and peace”. Currently, Andy is training for the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games as a member of the British Adaptive Ski Team. Training is a year-round effort with the Spring and Summer months being spent in the Northern hemisphere in Canada; and in the Southern hemisphere – Australia and New Zealand in the Winter.

Andy’s broader vision is not simply to appease the adventurer within himself. “I’m trying to find new ways to reclaim the wilderness for people in wheelchairs”, says Andy, “I hope to put my experiences together to help other people with disabilities get outdoors and push the limits of accessibility to enjoy places and experiences normally out of bounds to wheelchairs.”

A company in Colorado called Access Anything specializes in exactly that: travel and adventure for people with physical disabilities. For more information, see: www.AccessAnything.net.

When life hands you lemons, you can make lemonade; or you can do what Andy Campbell has done – set up lemonade stands all over the world, as a testament to defeating adversity. There’s a Star Wars marathon on TV this weekend, but I think I’m going to spend it outdoors instead.-Ben McCoy

Follow Andy around the world on his website: www.TheAndyCampbell.com; or on Twitter @Andy_Campbell