Elsie is 70 years old and like many people her age, she has rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, Elsie cannot ever remember when she didn’t have arthritis. However, her arthritis has never stopped Elsie from doing anything that she decided she wanted to do, at least, not until this past winter.

Elsie and her husband live in a rural town in a small single floor home with a basement. The basement contains the recreation room, laundry room, and furnace room. There are exactly seventeen steps down to the basement level. Elsie knows there are exactly seventeen steps because she would count each painful step every time she was forced to climb or descend those stairs. She recounts, "I don’t know which was worse, going up or going down those terrible stairs, but finally I found that I just couldn’t do it any more."

The Occupational Therapist from the Arthritis Society made periodic visits to check up on Elsie, and it was during one of those visits that Elsie presented the therapist with her stair climbing problem. She told the therapist, "I can’t even do my laundry and it shames me." The therapist recommended a Liberty Stair Chair Lift. Elsie had never heard of a stair chair lift and wanted no part of it. "You’ll never get me riding on one of those things," she stated.

At the urging of the Therapist, Elsie agreed to at least speak to the dealer, who assured Elsie that the most important feature of the Liberty Stair Chair is its operating safety. Positive and slip proof movement is ensured by a reliable, smooth rack and pinion drive mechanism traveling on a sturdy 4" I beam. Chairs are equipped with a safety belt, arm rests, and footrests for passenger comfort and safety. The seat faces sideways during the complete travel distance allowing the rider reassurance felt by being able to see both up and down the stairway at all times. The footrest is equipped with sensors that immediately stop the chair if an obstruction is encountered while traveling in either the up or down direction. The dealer’s assurances convinced Elsie and her husband to try the Liberty Stair Chair Lift.