News

Invacare Storm4 and Storm4 X-plore awarded...again

July 21st, 2010

Invacare^® Storm^®4 and Storm^®4 X-plore recognised as winning designs by France’s ‘Observeur Design’

One of Invacare’s many strengths in developing its range of home medical and long-term care products, is the innovative design it applies in finding solutions that meet the individual everyday needs of our customers.

So we are pleased to announce that two of our products, Storm4 and Storm4 X-plore have been awarded a "Label de l'Observateur du Design" by Observeur Design, an annual event organized by France’s APCI, an official body that promotes design throughout France and Europe.

Launched in 1999, the Observeur Design highlights and rewards a selection of the best design creations every year. Designs are invited from all sectors of industry and winning products are selected by a committee, which then go on to feature in a number of exhibitions in France and abroad.

Invacare Storm4 – Show off your sense of style!
The Invacare Storm4 powerchair has been created to satisfy even the most demanding requirements for configurability, adaptability and functionality. Design innovations include its unique and fully adjustable seating system that provides quick and easy adjustments for the best fit for customer needs.

A design that does more and lets users X-plore
Designed as a more sophisticated variant of the Storm4 power chair, Storm4 X-plore additionally offers a high-end four-wheel suspension with integrated and individually adjustable shock absorbers for better traction on uneven ground.
A smooth driving experience goes hand-in-hand with excellent comfort. The Easy-Adapt^® seat caters for over 80% of user needs and can with only one tool be adjusted in width and depth.

Highly configurable, Invacare Storm4 and Storm4 X-plore easily adapt to a diverse range of customer requirements thanks to their modular concept.

With an award that recognizes their dynamic, uncluttered and innovative design, ‘Observeur Design’ acknowledged the fact that Storm4 and Storm4 X-plore transcend the aesthetic normally associated with medical equipment, noting that the interchangeable elements also allow the user to configure and personalize the chairs.

Invacare congratulates the Storm4 and Storm4 X-plore design team, including Aurélie LAURET, Sascha HOHENDORN, Axel PUSCHMANN and Mélanie BROCHARD.

Invacare Storm4 and Storm4 X-plore awarded

July 19th, 2010

The Invacare Storm⁴ and Invacare Storm⁴ X-plore, two very recent Invacare power wheelchairs, have been awarded the Janus de la Santé 2010 (Janus of Health) !

This french and internationally renowned label awarded by the French Institute of Design acknowledges companies that take patients' needs into strong consideration in the process of product's conception. The "Janus de la Santé's" motto is : The integration of all patients in a "design for all" perspective is key for healthcare products future : a more in depth adaptation to children, elderlies and person with disabilities.

FIPFA News

July 1st, 2010

We, Invacare Europe, official Partner of FIPFA are proud to announce that FIPFA has received International Paralympic Committee (IPC) recognition as an international federation. Only two other international sports bodies enjoy this formal relationship status with IPC, International Handball Federation (IHF) and International Standing Ice Hockey Federation (ISIHF).

In parallel to this recognition status, FIPFA is in the process of bidding for inclusion of Powerchair Football into the sports programme of the Rio Paralympic Games 2016.

Visit the FIPFA website to follow the outcome!

Invacare sponsors Wheelchair Tennis Open Memorial Santi Silvas

June 29th, 2010

The 2nd Wheelchair Tennis Open Memorial Santi Silvas organized by Tommy Robredo Foundation (an important Spanish tennis player), took place in Olot in "La Garrotxa", Spain from June 9th to 13th, 2010.

After an accident causing him paraplegia, Santi Silvas found a motivation to live with his disability in wheelchair tennis. In order to bring wheelchair tennis to a higher level and to make it more popular in Spain, Santi decided to organize together with friends an international Open of wheelchair tennis. Unfortunately he never saw the first edition of this tournament as he passed away in 2008. Tommy Robredo, decided to carry out Santi’s project and started the Tommy Robredo’s Foundation with the aim to launch the Wheelchair Tennis Open Santi wanted. In 2009, one year after Santi's passing, they celebrated the 1st Wheelchair Tennis Open Memorial Santi Silvas.

From the beginning, Invacare Spain was sponsor of the tournament. For the first time this year, they involved themselves in the Open as well and took the opportunity to introduce the Top End Sport wheelchairs at the Invacare booth, which was located in the club where the competition took place. By offering training on sport and active wheelchairs, Invacare Spain took the opportunity to bring its 13 invited customers closer to the products. Küschall and Top End brands were well represented during the complete event and a lot of catalogues and give-aways were distributed to everbody.

A repair station with an experienced technician was organized in order to help players and teams with their wheelchairs and to give them the possibility to play their best tennis.

Many famous and important players in the world were present. In total 36 players (men and women) from France, Netherlands, Spain, Australia, Morocco, Chile and others, including Team Invacare athletes, took part in the tournament.
Stefan Olsson (Sweden) won the competition in the men's single while Daniela Di Toro (Australia) won in the women's category. In men's doubles the winners were Stefan Olsson (Swedish) and Tom Egberink (The Netherlands), and in women's doubles the winners were Aniek Van Koot (The Netherlands) and Daniela Di Toro (Australian).

Invacare Spain's main purpose has been to establish a closer relation with their most important customers and show them the Top End Sport Wheelchairs to show Invacare's sportive products. All customers and Invacare associates were very glad to participate in such an event and are looking forward to the next sport challenges of this kind!

Invacare World Team Cup 2010...an event that’s tough to beat!

May the 19th, 2010

The combination of one of the best locations for tennis, all facilities on site, excellent hospitality and a whole host of related fun activities made 2010 one of the best and most memorable of our IWTC events so far.

The International Tennis Federation, Turkish Sports Federation and Invacare together created an unforgettable mix of events, tournaments, activities, shows and talks which will be hard to repeat. The week was a huge success and provided highly rewarding for everyone involved.

Tournament results:

At the 2010 Invacare World Team Cup in Turkey on Sunday 9th May Sweden became men's World Group 1 champions and Colombia became men's World Group 2 champions.

As arguably the most memorable Invacare World Team Cup in the event's 26-year history came to a dramatic close under the floodlights at the AliBey Club in Antalya, Turkey, third seeds Sweden clinched their second World Group 1 title in three years after beating top seeds Netherlands 2-1 following a deciding doubles rubber.

Earlier in the day, Colombia won the men's World Group 2 title after beating second seeds Argentina 2-0 in two singles rubbers that both went to championship tie breaks.
Having finished fifth and seventh in World Group 2 in their only two previous Invacare World Team Cup appearances over the last two years, Colombia got off to a slow start in their first final, but Mauricio Vega put in a supreme effort to come from behind and secure a 26 64 10-1 victory over Oscar Diaz.

USA beat Israel 2-0 on Saturday to lift the Invacare World Team Cup quad title for a sixth time.

Netherlands won their 23rd Invacare World Team Cup women's title on Saturday after a 2-0 win over Japan. (picture)

Netherlands won the Invacare World Team Cup junior event supported by the Cruyff Foundation for the sixth time on Friday, when the live deciding doubles rubber between the Dutch top seeds and Spain had to be cancelled after Spain's Robert Chamizo was unable to play.

The Invacare World Team Cup junior trophy, the captain's cup presented by the host nation to the champions as well as the medals for the top three nations were presented by Franz Krammer, Managing Director, Invacare Europe and M Fahir Altan, Board Member of the Turkish Sports Federation for the Physically Disabled with particular responsibility for wheelchair tennis in Turkey.

More information and results on International Tennis Federation website:

Invacare International Symposium: inspirations and aspirations from a compelling panel of speakers

May 6th 2010 marked the Invacare International Symposium on the theme of “Sport: the platform for an active lifestyle”. It was held in Antalya / Manavgat at the Sea World Resort in Turkey.

Martin McElhatton, IWTA President and Chief Executive of WheelPower opened the Symposium as Chairman by presenting the different speakers. Among them, Dave Miley, Director of Tennis Development for the ITF presented “The ITF Play and Stay Campaign…Increasing Tennis Participation Worldwide”, followed by Dr Bilge Yilmaz, Chief of department of Spinal Cord Injury and Associate Professor at the Turkish Armed Forces Rehabilitation Centre in Ankara, who spoke about “Common medical problems faced by wheelchair athletes”. Paul Schulte (picture) closed the first half of the Symposium with a moving and inspiring testimonial on his career as a wheelchair basket-ball player and introduced “Those less, doing more: the impact of disabled sports and adaptive sport equipment.”

In the second half of the congress, Martin McElhatton spoke about “Transforming lives through sports” and drew us portraits of two promising young women making a brilliant entrance into the sports universe. Dr Ann Quinn, Peak Performance Specialist and Director of Quinnessential Edge, followed this theme by explaining the importance of mindset and other elements on the overall performance in sport and life in a talk entitled: “Preparing to Win On Court and In Life”. Pr Nevin Ergun PT PhD, Professor in sports science physical therapy and rehabilitation at Hacettepe University in Ankara discussed the status of “Disabled sports in Turkey: Past, Today & Future”. Finally, Michael Jeremiasz (picture), French professional wheelchair tennis player, was interviewed by the Chairman and delighted the audience with insights into his career.

The overall theme, Sport: the platform for an active lifestyle proved very inspiring to both audience and speakers, and everyone shared and learned from others’ experience in this field. Invacare warmly thanks the speakers for their high degree of professionalism and the relevance of their presentations.

Invacare Symposium 2010 - Speakers Presentation sheet

Invacare Third Gala Dinner: 1001 meets 2010 in an enchanted Arabian night

Following the Symposium the Invacare Gala dinner was held in the evening at the Sea World Resort. Pre-dinner cocktails provided a great opportunity for everyone to gather around a drink and share inputs on the week-long tournament. The dinner took place on the terrace of the hotel with a fun “1001 Nights” atmosphere created by an abundance of Turkish dishes and specialties, with entertainment in the form of two Turkish belly dancers, who performed a lively show of oriental dance. All invitees fell under the spell of this intoxicating exotic atmosphere, which lasted late into the night.

International artists provide dazzling performances at the Invacare Night of the Stars

A star-studded show!

Invacare organized an amazing show starring international artists and performers featuring Küschall^® and Top End^® wheelchairs.

On this very special evening, each artist gave a fascinating performance before a public of around 1200 people.

A dynamic fashion show by French designer Jerome Sue, starring Samantha Bullock and professional dancers from AliBey Club and songs from Italian wheelchair tennis player and singer Fabian Mazzei (picture) touched the hearts of the public.

Franck Bouroullec, painter and performer, put on an incredible show using a black chassis and white paint. When he turned over the chassis, the public were startled to see a portrait of Roger Federer!

Dergin Tokmak, artist with the Cirque du Soleil, offered a moving and impressive solo dance performance on crutches whilst basketball duo Paul Schulte and Ade Adepitan produced an unforgettable and entertaining show.

We hope to organize another show like this with equally great performers soon! Thanks to everyone who made the night unforgettable.

Invacare Showroom & Repair Station: revising the old, reviewing the new

An Invacare showroom and repair station was a permanent fixture during the week. The stand attracted attention and interest in the wheelchairs on show which included models from the sporty Top End® range and the complete küschall® line as well as the latest küschall® models.

The Tryout Zone is ‘wheely’ fun!

Many customers, Invacare employees and athletes took the opportunity to visit the Invacare Tryout Zone, located next to the Invacare Showroom, where küschall^® and Top End^® wheelchairs could be tested in various situations within an area of 1000m2.

Everyday tasks such as climbing a kerb or driving up and down a ramp were included in the course as well as wheeling through deep sand on two wheels and managing to drive up and down a see-saw. The visitors were very keen to have a go at all the tasks and were eager to try the wheelchairs.

Practical tryouts gave visitors the chance to gain a better understanding of the challenges faced daily by wheelchair drivers and the need for high-quality chairs that offer outstanding driving performance and reliability. The Zone was a great opportunity to get insight into the world of wheelchair driving, aided by a large helping of fun.

EDO-Family Meeting in Antalya: distributors, discoveries... and dancing!

The Invacare European Distributor Organisation (EDO) took the occasion of the IWTC 2010 to hold its annual EDO-Family Meeting in Antalya and for the first time the meeting took place in one of EDO’s distributor countries, with 30 distributors from almost all Eastern European countries attending the meeting.

Naturally everyone took advantage of the IWTC events: on Thursday morning they visited the Invacare showroom, watched wheelchair tennis and, last but not least, experienced the Invacare Tryout Zone. After an active start to the day, the delegates attended the Symposium gala dinner. Not content with enjoying the fantastic dinner, two EDO customers got the chance to show off their belly-dancing skills!

The EDO-Family Meeting got going on the Friday and Saturday morning. This year’s conference focussed on manual wheelchairs and updates across the range – from passive, medium active, active and sports models – were presented and discussed. All distributors attended the Invacare Night of the Stars, one of the highlights of the week.  On Saturday the EDO team and distributors were able to ask questions and discuss their market requirements with the European product managers directly, who in turn received first-hand information about the different countries and markets in the EDO area.

After two days of information and concentration the EDO team and distributors were able to relax and were treated to a half-day excursion discovering the Turkish Riviera. In addition to popular tourist attractions such as the Manavgat Waterfall and Apollon Temple in Side, guests visited the beautiful Green Canyon and Green Lake in the Manavgat ‘hinterland’ where they enjoyed a simple but authentic and lunch of fresh lake trout.

As with the IWTC event this year, all EDO distributors agreed that this year’s meeting was particularly memorable and will be hard for the team to top!

The Invacare World Team Cup 2010 has been a tremendous success and a memorable week. Again, thanks to all!

Photo credit: Invacare International Sarl/Benoist Matsha-Carpentier

Invacare World Team Cup 2010 - Game On !!

April the 30th, 2010

The Invacare World Team Cup will start Monday the 3rd of May and last the whole week. The event will be staged on the clay courts of the Club Ali Bey Antalya / Manavgat on the Turkish Riviera.

Discover the different activities that Invacare Europe organises during this exciting tournament week:

INVACARE VILLAGE

The Invacare® Village will host a range of highly-active manual wheelchairs for everyday and sports use, as well as Invacare walking aids. Our latest küschall® and Top End® innovations will be displayed at the show-room and repair station located in the tennis venue.

TRYOUT ZONE

Test the driving performance of küschall® and Top End® wheelchairs and get a taste of the freedom that active wheelchair drivers can benefit from. Whether you are a skilled driver or have never used a wheelchair before, this tryout will be a worthwhile experience for everyone.
Interested? The Tryout-Zone will be open Thursday morning and Friday / Saturday from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

INVACARE NIGHT OF THE STARS
Friday the 7th of May 2010

A very special evening!

Invacare® will organise a show starring international artists and performers featuring küschall® and Top End® wheelchairs. Many surprises to discover!

One hour of show including singing with Fabian Mazzei, painting performance with Franck Bouroullec, dancing with crutches with Dergin Tokmak from the "Cirque du Soleil" (circus show touring in Europe), an exceptional basketball duel, climbing down the Eiffel Tower record with Jérôme Sue, a wakeboard demonstration (on Saturday, 8th of May at 5pm) and more… Be sure to attend!

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM "SPORT: THE PLATFORM FOR AN ACTIVE LIFESTYLE"
Thursday the 6th of May 2010

For 2010, Invacare® will hold its third international Symposium. This year the topic will revolve around "Sport: the platform for an active lifestyle".
The Symposium will bring together experts from the field of sports, healthcare, medicine and research to explore the benefits of sports on daily life and for independence.

Chairman and speaker:

Martin McElhatton - IWTA President, Chief Executive WheelPower
"Transforming Lives Through Sport"

Speakers:

Dave Miley - Director of Tennis Development for the International Tennis Federation (ITF)
"The ITF Play and Stay Campaign….Increasing Tennis Participation Worldwide"

Dr Bilge Yilmaz - Chief of Department of Spinal Cord Injury, Associate Professor, Turkish Armed Forces Rehabilitation and Care Centre
"Common medical problems faced by wheelchair athletes"

Rainer Küschall - IWTC Ambassador, Küschall company Founder
His career as an athlete, his experience of Paralympics and his willingness of becoming more and more active thanks to sports

Paul Schulte – Top End® design engineer and wheelchair basket-ball athlete
"Those with less, doing more." The impact of disabled sports and adaptive sport equipment. Platform for an active lifestyle.

Dr Ann Quinn - Peak Performance Specialist, Director of Quinnessential Edge
"Preparing to Win On Court and In Life"

Pr Nevin Ergun – Professor in sports science physical therapy and rehabilitation, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation
"Disabled sports in Turkey : Past, Today & Future"

Michael Jeremiasz – French professional wheelchair tennis player
World Champion in 2009 and 2005 in single/double, winner of the US Open, the Australian Open (single), Wimbledon and Roland-Garros (twice in double)
Insights and sport experiences

Let's enjoy a great week of high-level sport !