By Steve Bradley
Sixty-four year Leo Rifenburg of Hoosick Falls had a problem. He uses a walker to get around and has to sleep in a chair. But he kept slipping out of the chair and landing on the floor.
The seat of the chair was slanted so he could get out of it to stand up. Being a large man with legs that have to be wrapped, when he slipped out of the chair he couldn’t get up. When he couldn’t get up, he had to use Life Alert for help. Some weeks he had to request help several times. He felt bad for inconveniencing everyone but there was nothing he could do.
The Town of Hoosick Rescue Squad would respond and if the right people responded, they would pick him up and get him back in his chair. If the right people didn’t respond, the rescue squad folks had to ask firemen to come to scene for lifting assistance.
His family had tried to get him a power lift chair that would lift and get him on his feet, but insurance would not help. Saturday night, Leo slipped out of his chair, the fourth night in a row.
He activated his Life Alert and the rescue squad responded. Because the squad needed help, they requested lifting assistance from the Hoosick Falls Fire Department. When the department arrived, pleasantries were exchanged as by now everyone had become well acquainted with each other, and Leo was lifted into his chair.
rThe firemen discussed this later and set about to try to find a power chair for Leo. Former fire chief Carl Coon had heard of a power chair a while ago that Tom DeMars had available. Coon made a call to find out if it was still there.
As luck would have it, it was. A work group was called and six firemen went and got the donated chair mid-afternoon Sunday. After picking up the chair, the group headed to Leo’s place.
They arrived at Leo’s and entered his apartment. He was certainly surprised to see them, especially Jacob Hohn and Shawn Blair, who are the two men that usually pick Leo off the floor and place him back in the chair. He was speechless that a power lift chair was being carried into his living room. Leo’s old chair was removed and the new chair put in its place. Shane Hathaway got electric power to it and installed the emergency batteries. Leo sat in the chair, thanking everyone as he did, and settled in. Shawn Blair went over the remote with him. Leo was very grateful. It was a win-win for everyone.
But that wasn’t the end. Twenty minutes after the fireman left a call came in for Leo’s address. Confused as to what could have possibly happened, did he somehow fling himself across the room with the chair, the firemen returned. When they got back to apartment, there was Leo flat out in the chair, parallel with the floor from head to ankle. He couldn’t move and the chair wouldn’t. After some discussion and a check of the manual, it was determined that while exploring what his new chair could do, somehow Leo had held the lock button down for three seconds, locking the chair. The manual revealed that you have to hold down the lock button for six seconds to unlock it. After releasing him and some good natured ribbing, Leo was again left with his chair.
He hasn’t been heard from since.