A World of Possibilities

Adam Fine has never been an inside-the-box thinker. So it's probably no surprise to those who know him that his home medical equipment company is not your usual HME business.

There are, after all, not many providers who feature kitchen cabinets that raise and lower so users can reach the top shelf. It also isn't customary for providers to install ramps that work in tandem with the wheelchairs they sell. Nor, for that matter, is it very common for an HME provider not to take Medicare. But more on that later …

A New Concept

Such out-of-the-box concepts are business as usual for Fine, who owns Accessible Design & Consulting in Santa Monica, Calif. The former marketing consultant started his company in 1999. His father was dying of Parkinson's disease and, at the same time, Fine, then a marketing consultant, was hired by a contractor who wanted to gear his business more to seniors and those who were disabled.

The idea of accessibility for all people captured Fine's imagination. “I could see there was a real niche in this market, and it was gratifying,” he says. “It's doing meaningful work. We changed people's lives.”

He broke away from marketing and started his own company with a focus on accessibility items. While he carries some ADLs and wheelchairs, his stock-in-trade is more in the renovation realm — ramps, elevators, chairlifts, grab bars and the like.

“First, I started out in a one-bedroom apartment, carting my demos and equipment around in an SUV. Then I came up with a concept,” he says.

Driven by the idea of being a one-stop shop for accessibility products, he created a showroom that is an accessible home. He found a site in an industrial area and transformed it into a home complete with hardwood floors, granite kitchen counters and French doors. He added art created by artists with disabilities.

Oh, and by the way, his showroom has those electric kitchen cabinets, a sink that raises and lowers, an accessible dishwasher and refrigerator, automatic door openers, overhead ceiling lifts, an elevator, a sliding swivel bath bench and even a hydraulic closet rack that lowers so people in wheelchairs can access their clothes.

“I did it so people could see what things would look like in their home,” Fine says, adding that it is a graphic way for customers to discover their options.