Yorkshire Care Equipment Little Lento chair and story image

Specialist seating company Yorkshire Care Equipment has written and published a short story to introduce children and occupational therapists (OTs) to Little Lento – a new care chair specially designed to fit children and adults under 5ft 2in.

Complete with full-colour illustrations, the book – ‘The Adventures of Little Lento’ – tells the heart-warming story of a chair called Little Lento and his journey supporting a little girl named Jessica as she grows up.

Tristan Hulbert, Managing Director of Yorkshire Care Equipment and Author of ‘The Adventures of Little Lento’, said: “The idea to write a children’s book came to me quite suddenly. We’d already been developing Little Lento for about a year when it first crossed my mind one evening as something that could be a fun idea. From there, I just started writing and the story came together.

“We’re all really pleased with the end result. The story captures how important a properly fitted care chair is. For many of the children Little Lento was developed for, their chair is where they spend most of their time. The real Little Lento might not speak or have a friendly smile, but it does provide comfort and support that can be life-changing.”

Tristan Hulbert with The Adventures of Little Lento image

Little Lento was officially launched The OT Show on 27th November, where the Yorkshire Care Equipment team exhibited the new product alongside the company’s original Lento Care Chair, which it launched in 2017.

The concept of Lento has proved successful across different healthcare settings, mainly due to the chair’s flexibility, says Yorkshire Care Equipment.

Research by the seating specialist estimates that the Lento care chair will work for around 80 percent of the population. The seat height, width, and depth can all be adjusted in seconds, without the need for any tools or extra parts.

Padraig Finn, Band 6 Physiotherapist at Yorkshire Care Equipment, said: “The response we’ve had to Lento from OTs, relatives and the users themselves have been amazing. It’s really changed people’s quality of life, making them more comfortable and able to socialise more as well as supporting their physical healthcare needs.

“When we spoke to paediatric OTs they highlighted the need for something like Lento that worked for children. Equipment loan stores and SEN schools were struggling with the cost and waste of bespoke care chairs that fit a child for a year or two but then couldn’t be readjusted to reuse. Little Lento will really help tackle this. It can grow with a child for many years and then be easily cleaned, resized and used again.”

The design of Little Lento has been based on the Lento, offering all the same features, just on a smaller scale. Paediatric OTs were consulted to ensure any changes were tailored to suit smaller body sizes. Options for a chest harness, ankle huggers and hip guides were added to get Little Lento ready for paediatric care.

Following the launch of the ProSpec hospital chair in July 2019, Little Lento is Yorkshire Care Equipment’s second own-brand chair announced this year.

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