SAN FRANCISCO—Whirlwind Wheelchairs International, a non-profit organization in San Francisco, is providing a relief effort for the survivors of Haiti’s earthquake by bringing wheelchairs to people with disabilities and injuries that affect their mobility.
According to the Whirlwind Wheelchairs International Web site, Haiti’s earthquake survivors need wheelchairs that will allow them to travel through the streets of the devastated country. An estimated 200,000 people have been killed by the cataclysm, and many thousands more have become incapacitated by their injuries, making walking impossible.
Whirlwind’s Roughrider wheelchairs are considered ideal for those immobilized by the earthquake to navigate the now rugged territory and massive debris of Haiti’s affected areas.
Whirlwind Wheelchair International was founded in 1989 as the Wheeled Mobility Center by the San Francisco State University Engineering professor Pet Pfailzer and paraplegic engineer and wheelchair designer Ralf Hotchkiss. The program is committed to the development of wheelchair standards appropriate to local conditions and to the adoption of such standards by the governments of developing nations, according to the Web site. Whirlwind also offers consulting services to private wheelchair manufacturers and individuals designers and inventors, and provides a hands-on wheelchair design and construction class at SFSU to students and interested members of the community.
