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Invacare adds nursing home products to arsenal - lift line and seating

* Invacare adds nursing home products to arsenal Invacare has come out with a new lift line and seating product for nursing homes that it will market through its 85-rep sales force.

The lift line will be on the market the middle of this month and consists of either a hydraulic or screw lift placed on one of three types of bases--adjustable, C-base or low-profile adjustable. The lifts sell at a list price of between $800 and $1,075 and the bases from $475 to $550. A resident scale that fits the lift costs $1,295.

The Elyria, Ohio based company will also market a line of 18 new slings that enable the caretaker to lift the nursing home resident from a wheelchair. They range in price from $95 to $155.

Another new product from the company is its go-chair, a seating and ambulatory product. The seat pivots forward and backward, enabling the resident to move around and be transfered between a bed and the chair, said Libbie Lockard, marketing manager for institutional products. The chair complies with OBRA '87 regulations, which state that people in nursing homes are residents, not patients, and theerefore cannot be restrained, she added. "Most geriatric products are patient traps. The go-chair is not restraining."

Invacare is pleased with sales so far in the institutional market place, which the company entered last year.

The company will double the number of trade shows in the institutional market from its last year's schedule. New trade shows include those of the American Hospital Assn., American Healthcare Assn. and the American College of Health Care Administrators. It will increase its advertising budget moderately, adding publications to its trade journal list, Lockard said. The majority of the company's money will continued to be spent on product development, she noted.

Invacare introduced 53 new products at last year's National Home Health Care Exposition.  Medical Supply

Patient Lifts & Acc, Slings, CareGuard Standard Polyester Slings, Chain Assembly Kit, Strap Assembly Kit.