It's the first vehicle built from the ground up for people with wheelchairs.
“I am a soccer mom, but that doesn`t mean I have to roll like a soccer mom, so this vehicle has really changed that,” Erika Bogan, Ms. Wheelchair America 2010 said.
Erika Bogan has been touring the country with Vehicle Production Group, showing off the new MV-1 vehicle. Friday they made a stop at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids. This is the first ever vehicle designed for people that rely on a wheelchair to get around.
Erika is not onlyl former Ms. Wheelchair American, but also a single mother of three. When they asked her to check it out, she instantly fell in love.
“No matter where we go, I can get in and out of the vehicle unassisted. I can ride upfront in the passenger seat, without having to transfer out of my wheelchair, which is very, very, very nice. No one likes to ride in the back all the time,” Bogan said.
Normally, when someone needs a wheelchair accessible van, you have to buy a vehicle, and then add on all the extras. This vehicle is ready to go as soon as it rolls off the assembly line.
“They took all the tips and suggestions from people that actually use the product to make the product and design the product and it`s phenomenal. We are not an afterthought,” Shelly Loose, President, Ms. Wheelchair America said.
Shelly was in a car accident 25 years ago, when she swerved to miss a deer. She says it`s amazing to see how far we have come, when it comes to helping people with disabilities.
“If we can do this, if we can make this amount of difference with one vehicle, where is it going to take us? The hope is amazing as to where we`re going to go,” Loose said.
