Runaway Wheelchair
I worked in home healthcare. My client was moving to another area, so I was training my replacement as the new area was quite a bit of a drive for me. We went over loading and unloading my client from a wheelchair to a vehicle and from a vehicle to a wheelchair.
Things were going well, and I thought the new guy got it. We took my client to the doctor. The client said he wanted the new guy to load and unload him by himself as I won’t be there to supervise. It made perfect sense since I was still there in case something went wrong—and it did!
The client told me to go into the doctor’s office and get him checked in while the new guy unloaded him. I should have stayed with them the entire time, but the client was insistent that the new guy could handle things. We had gone over this several times in training and believed he would be fine.
The new guy got the client out of the car and into the wheelchair fine. He then backed the chair away from the car so he could grab the client’s bag and close the door. But there was something he missed.
The numbskull neglected to engage the brakes on the wheelchair before letting go of the chair. The wheelchair was on a slight incline. He turned to grab the bag, and the client started rolling backward down the slope. I happened to notice and dashed out of the office.
The receptionist was out the door right behind me as the client was rolling down the parking lot. The new guy was still digging in the car. So, the receptionist and I took off after the client.
The dude rolled down the parking lot, across the road, and into a ditch. My client missed his doctor’s appointment as we had to take him to get checked out at the local emergency room.
We also had to talk to the local authorities. The client was fine, and the new guy lost his job. I ended up staying at that job for another two months, making the long drive daily while they looked for another replacement.
A new guy came on board and couldn’t seem to grasp why we were so focused on making sure he understood how the brakes worked until we told him the tale of the runaway wheelchair.