We need to kind of refresh our fear in order to refresh our understanding of how a safe place works.
Andrew Pyper

What Is your safe place?

You might feel physically safe, not threatened, in a public space, during the day, with lots of people around. You might feel emotionally safe, when you are with family and friends, people with whom you ca be open without the fear of someone taking advantage of any weaknesses you might show or admit to.

Last weekend, one of the big support bars underneath Pádraig’s wheelchair broke. Neither us, nor anybody we talked to, had ever heard of anything like it happening.

I went to a hardware shop, bought a steel pipe and did my best to attach it to the broken bar. We immediately notified the community occupational therapist (OT) who notified the company the HSE has under contract to look after the maintenance of wheelchairs.

We were talking to them all week long. Their engineer suggested to weld the bar back together, insert a pipe into the broken pipe, get another base for the wheelchair – nothing materialised. On Thursday, the OT was still waiting for a report from the engineer – when even to a non-professional eye it was glaringly clear that this wheelchair was a write-off.

Nothing happened for the week. No parts were repaired, no parts were ordered. When the OT stated on Thursday that it wouldn’t be safe for Pádraig to use the chair, we asked here what he was supposed to do then? She answered that the only safe place for him would be in bed.

The only safe place for him is in bed.

Repeat that a few times and let it sink in. Consider: this is coming from an Occupational Therapist. Consider that, according to the supplier’s rep, the timeframe for getting a replacement is as long as a string. Could be four weeks, could be four months.

It seems to me that the only correct action for me might be to work with a wheelchair manufacturer that can supply a chair suitable for Pádraig’s height, make an appointment with them, together with an OT, and get one made up there and then. Whether that is in Germany, Denmark, or Norway – or anywhere else. Unless, of course, Pádraig gets a replacement chair pronto.

Staying in bed for months is not an option. A bed is not a safe place for Pádraig to live in.

If the HSE does not understand that, and don’t find Pádraig a new chair very soon, they will have to pay the bill when it is presented to them. I am sure that there are mechanisms to help them come to grips with this lesson if needed.

Staying in bed for weeks and months make you sick and weak.

People die in bed.

Pádraig would rather live.