My name is Jerry Ford. I invented an automatic brake system that prevents falls and injuries
from rollaway wheelchairs.
I crop farm. I raise corn, soy beans, and hay. I raise hay for my horses. My daughter
and I have raised horses for about 15 years now. My daughter no longer lives here anymore
but is still involved with the horses.
I have 27 horses right now. Actually maybe 28 with the last colt that was born.
My son, who works in a nursing home, stopped one day and told me there was something that
was needed, and it would prevent a lot of falls and injuries in the elderly. He told
me there was a need for an automatic brake system on manual wheelchairs.
So I invented one.
I went to my shop on a Sunday morning at 11 o'clock with an idea in my head and three
hours later I had a working prototype.
Sometimes people forget to apply the manual wheelchair brakes when they transfer to and
from the chair, allowing the chair to roll freely out from under them and they fall and
get seriously hurt. My automatic brake system is always on until the person sits down on
the chair. Then the chair will move freely and let them go where they want to go. As
soon as they start to stand, it automatically locks and secures the chair. If you want to
move the empty chair with no one in it, just push the palm release levers which allows
the chair to move freely. You can also lock the system off so that the chair can be moved
freely by pulling it by the arm. If anyone forgets to reset the system by pushing the
palm release lever, the first time a person sits in the chair it automatically resets.
We are in 41 different states, two providences of Canada, and I have a chair in Munich, Germany.
I think I'll have achieved my goal when an automatic brake system, it becomes mandatory
on every wheelchair that's manufactured.
The cost of the falls is huge. And the technology is there to prevent them.
Seatbelts in cars actually prevent you from getting more seriously injured in an accident,
where my automatic brake system prevents the accident from ever happening.