Pride: Manual mobility 'a natural fit'

EXETER, Pa. - Pride Mobility Products has hired a seasoned rehab veteran to lead the company's charge into the standard and custom manual wheelchair market, where until now it has had only a minimal presence. "We feel that the manual chair segment of the industry is a natural fit for us, a natural transition," said Cody Verrett, national sales director for Quantum Rehab, the company's custom rehab division. "Customers of power mobility are the same customers for manual chair mobility." In March, Pride hired Mike McCarthy, ATS, as its national sales manager for manual wheelchairs and Synergy Seating products. McCarthy comes to Pride with roughly 15 years of hands-on experience with seating and mobility products, including the past seven with National Seating and Mobility. "Being a CRTS for all those years, I'd spend many days driving around with a mental note pad, thinking: 'Boy, that would be cool if I could do that,'" McCarthy said. "Now, at Quantum, I'll have the opportunity to go ahead and get those down and be a part of the development process." Pride's current manual chairs include the Stylus (K0004) and the Litestream XF ultra lightweight (K0005). With McCarthy on board, the company plans to add features to these chairs (such as a depth-adjustable frame and flip-back tubular arms for the Litestream) and expand the line-up to include a K0009 positioning chair (a rotational, tilt-in-space type product). The company also expects to bring a rigid K0005 ultra-light chair to market. "We intend to be a leader in standard and manual wheelchairs, for adults and pediatrics," Verrett said. "When you talk to RTSs or the rehab community at large, they are a careful group that puts a lot of time and care into their craft. They want a manufacturer that understands their needs and can create products that meet those needs. That's one of the reasons we were excited to bring Mike on." HME