Back in 2017, vivid.care launched Lento — our own specialist care chair.
As a supplier of specialist seating throughout the UK to NHS hospitals as well as healthcare professionals and their clients in the community, we have come to learn the requirements for specialist chairs in the care and management of complex conditions and disabilities.
The Lento Care Chair was created to meet these care requirements with superb adjustability that allows the Lento to be configured to a variety of shapes and sizes so the same care chair can be used in the treatment of multiple patients.
It’s this kind of versatility that has led to the Lento being adopted by NHS trusts across the country, with some people choosing to purchase a Lento for their own personal care at home.
However, over time we have come to see that with all the adjustability, versatility and mobility the Lento offers thanks to its durable castors…there are times where the Lento Care Chair isn’t ideal.
An occupational therapist may ask us if we have a small recliner chair for their elderly patients or an NHS hospital may require specialist paediatric seating for their young patients.
To meet these new requirements, vivid.care are thrilled to announce that we have expanded the Lento Care Chair range with the launch of Little Lento!
Little Lento is a care chair specially designed to fit children and adults under 5ft 2in. We’ve been developing the new chair for well over a year, working alongside children’s occupational therapists to ensure everything was properly adapted to suit smaller body sizes.
A Small Recliner Chair For Elderly Adults
Little Lento was created to offer solutions to paediatric care, but this care chair was also designed with the goal of being a small recliner chair that enables the care of elderly patients under 5 foot 2 in.
Aside from the necessary adaptations, the design of Little Lento was based entirely on the adult Lento. We were actually inspired to develop a paediatric care chair because of Lento’s popularity. Our original concept had proved hugely successful across different healthcare settings, mainly due to the Lento’s flexibility. This one care chair works for around 80% of the population.
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.
Little Lento can grow with a child for many years and then be easily cleaned, resized and used again.”
The seat height, width, and depth on Little Lento can all be adjusted in seconds, without the need for any tools or extra parts.
What’s Different About Little Lento?
We’ve touched on what remains the same across Lento and Little Lento — both are fully adjustable, easy to clean, comfortable, supportive and available for quick delivery. But what makes Little Lento better suited for paediatric care?
Here are some of the new features on the Little Lento Care Chair:
- Smaller dimensions — every aspect of the chair has been scaled down so it can properly fit and support people under 5ft 2.
- Options for a chest harness for extra safety and security.
- Ankle huggers, pommels and hip guides are available as add-ons to provide additional postural support.
The Adventures of Little Lento
To help introduce children, parents, and OTs to Little Lento, we’ve also published a short children’s book!
Complete with full-colour illustrations, our book – The Adventures of Little Lento – tells the story of a care chair called Little Lento and his journey supporting a little girl named Jessica as she grows up.
Tristan Hulbert, Managing Director at Yorkshire Care 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.”
We hope that The Adventures of Little Lento can act as a useful tool for introducing the benefits of a children’s care chair to people who may not have come across them before.
Over several decades, we have worked hard to establish ourselves as specialist seating experts. Little Lento marks the latest step in that journey. Following the launch of the ProSpec hospital chair this July, Little Lento our third own brand chair. Developing a children’s care chair was important for us to fill a gap in the healthcare industry. It is part of our mission to provide equipment that improves quality of life for everyone.
To book a no-obligation Little Lento trial please call us on 01423 799960 or send us an online enquiry.
Graeme has worked alongside the public sector for much of his working life, helping departments improve efficiencies and deliver on projects. In his role at Vivid.Care, Graeme used his experience to tackle some of the most challenging issues in the healthcare sector, from falls through to winter pressures. He was also a guest speaker and a number of different conferences, including at the Falls Prevention Summit in London.
