2009 People In Motion show

I was at the People In Motion show at the Queen Elizabeth Centre at the CNE to once again find new products and services that will benefit the disabled community. I brought our co-op maintenance coordinator Marlon Roomes with me as we are looking to renovate our accessible units and I wanted him to speak to contractors. Of course the TTC had a booth at the show which included one of their new Wheeltrans buses. I checked that out along with GO's new bus. You can now get a CD tutorial for their online trip booking service that was introduced last year. I haven't used it because I actually haven't used Wheeltrans for a year. I prefer to take the bus and subway and in fact I took the subway to the show. The TTC was running shuttle buses from Bathurst Station. This way I can go anywhere on my own time. I plan to write about this in more detail in the future especially if the purchase of the new streetcars goes through. As of this writing, it's still pending. So stay tuned for that.

There were two new products of interest at the show this year. Actually, they're both products we are looking at for the co-op. One of the biggest problems for the disabled is kitchen fires. This is mostly because we have to reach to get to the burners and a sleeve can catch fire. This is also a problem with seniors. Pioneering Technology of Mississauga was at the show to introduce a product called safe-T-element. This product is designed to prevent cooking fires. It is an upgrade for standard coil stovetops. Safe-T-element is an electronically controlled solid cover plate that is installed on top of your existing stovetop burner. A patented control unit inside the stove controls the temperature of the plate cover allowing it to only reach a maximum of 350C/662F. Upon reaching that temperature, the oven automatically shuts off. It's also supposed to save electricity. But the main thing is to prevent the most common cause of fires in the home, kitchen fires. We are considering getting these for all our co-op units and seniors housing in particular should look at this. for more info, contact Safe@Home at 1-877-542-8855 or safeathome@cogeco.ca

Bedbugs have become an epidemic in highrise buildings. You don't want to know what the co-op has to do to get rid of bedbugs. Then the prson who had the bedbugs has to get all new bedding and well, it's not pleasant. The preventative solution is to get hypoallergenic bedding. Caber Distributors were at the People In Motion show to introduce Protect-A-Bed's AllerZip Bedding Encasement for your box spring and mattress. The product is available with either cotton or polyester cover. But the main thing is that Protect-A-Bed's patented Bug Lock Secure Seal are bed bug entry proof, bed bug escape proof, air vapour porous, waterproof and absorbent, has a dust mite barrier and offers total allergy protection. The product is available for all sizes of beds. Again, this is a product the co-op is looking at as preventative maintenance. Bedbug infestations are very expensive too. You can contact Caber Distributors at 905-479-5803 or 1-800-520-3152 or check out their website at http://www.protectabed.ca/ The People In Motion show is a free one stop shop for products and services for the disabled. Be sure to check out next year's show. I'll see you there.