Adaptive Medical Emphasizes the How-To

IT IS ONE THING just to sell products to customers. It is quite another to show clients how to use home medical equipment in real-life situations. Which is precisely what Adaptive Medical Solutions in Lubbock, Texas, offers to its customers with its state-of-the-art showroom and personalized service.

Just Like Home

AN OFFSHOOT OF a home health agency, Adaptive Medical launched in May 2000 and specializes in rehabilitation products such as walkers, canes and aids to daily living. Director of operations Melissa Hagan says that in designing the showroom she drew heavily from her background as a certified occupational therapist. Working with patients as they attempted to master the use of rehab products, Hagan learned how important patient knowledge and training are.

"There's no sense in buying something that sits in the package because the patients become frustrated and give up, saying, `I can't do this, I don't know how to do it,'" says Hagan. "When patients buy products at our store, we make sure they know how to use them.

"Some patients ask, `This works fine and dandy here, but when I take it home, is it going to work?' So we try to provide [a shopping experience] where each client who comes in is going to feel, `I made a good purchase, I know how to use it, and it's going to make my life simpler and give me a little bit more independence.'"

To facilitate learning, Adaptive Medical's showroom was set up to look "like a home." Hagan and her staff furnished two rooms as if they were a bedroom and a dining room. The rooms are outfitted with various ADLs so that customers can try the products in a simulated home environment before deciding whether to purchase them.

In the dining room, customers find a table with a number of place settings, each laid out with different ADLs, such as high-scoop bowls, plate guards, angle spoons and other built-up silverware. In the bedroom, customers can try a leg lift and bed cane, as well as devices such as sock aids that help them dress themselves.

Setting up the faux rooms was not a huge investment, in capital or labor, according to Hagan. The company bought a small dining room set at Kmart and a bed at a local mattress company that gave Adaptive Medical a discount because of how the bed would be used. With the help of another employee, Hagan then assembled and accessorized the rooms in just one day.

Show and Tell

NOT CONTENT WITH a two-room showroom, Hagan also has plans for two additions: a living room and a bathroom.

"We already have the products here on demo so that we can show patients how to use them," says Hagan. "Say you were going to need a transfer bench to get in the bathtub. We'll show you how to use a transfer bench properly and safely, instead of just saying here it is and then leaving you to open it up and read the instructions on your own."

In addition to the new rooms, Adaptive Medical plans to take its in-store training program one step further this year: Each month, the company will hold in-services for patients and caregivers, conducted by Hagan and her staff or a volunteer therapist from the area.

With all of these measures - putting together its in-store rooms, teaching patients how to use equipment before they buy it - Hagan says the company has helped differentiate itself from other HME retailers.

"When you walk into a Wal-Mart and need something, there's no one there to teach you how to use it," says Hagan. "But as a therapist, that's what I do. And I find that sets us apart as being a little bit different than your average salesman who is just pushing a product."

From Agency to Equipment

AN OFFSHOOT OF Mission Rehab Services, a home health agency, Adaptive Medical Solutions in Lubbock, Texas, opened for business in May 2000. Part of the motivation for venturing into the home medical equipment industry was local therapists' need to get equipment for their patients in a timelier fashion, says Melissa Hagan, Adaptive Medical's director of operations.

"We were seeing that our home health patients were unable to get equipment quickly and economically," Hagan says. "So this is why we came to this direction, having a store for our patients, as well as therapists from other agencies that are not necessarily working for us, where they could purchase equipment without having to go to a big supplier and wait a couple of weeks to get it."

Another factor that played a key role in convincing Hagan and Jing Mitchell, Adaptive Medical's owner, to start an HME business was attending the Medtrade West show last year in Las Vegas. Hagan says that meeting manufacturers and taking part in the various educational programs were pivotal in her decision to get into the HME side of home health.

"When we went to Medtrade West, nothing was decided yet on the store, whether we were going to go for it or not," says Hagan. "But being at the show really helped me make up my mind whether I wanted to do this. It gave me an opportunity to talk to the distributors. And just being there, talking with everyone, attending the seminars that were put on, was helpful. After participating there in Las Vegas, I concluded that we can do this, we can make it work, so the company started after that."