Michael Graves is a famous architect and designer who has designed many familiar objects. Step into a Target store and you will find tea kettles, toasters and Martini shakers with his signature design. Travel the world and you will see famous buildings that he designed such as the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel and the Humana Building in Louisville. He is known for paying attention to detail and dignity.

In 2003, at the age of 68 Michael Graves became paralyzed from the mid-chest down. While lying in his hospital bed he said “I don’t want to die here because it’s so ugly.” This started his interest in improving the design of medical equipment. After living in several different hospitals he decided that he could do better. So, he began to redesign the medical equipment that he needed to use. The Michael Graves Active Living Collection is the name of his medical equipment designs.

One of the items that he designed is a hybrid rollator. The exciting feature of his hybrid rollator is that it is both a wheelchair and a walker. The seat back is reversible allowing you to sit on either side of the rollator, it has foot rests that fold down and the arms are at a comfortable height, thus transforming a rollator walker into a transport chair. The handle of the hybrid rollator is made out of a sturdy plastic loop that gives the caregiver enough support to push the rollator. The large wheels make the rollator stable.

A rollator walker is a piece of medical equipment that helps someone who has trouble walking. Many people use them every day as they go about their daily activities. I have seen many seniors try to use a standard wheeled rollator with a seat, as a wheelchair and it is an unsafe practice. The frame of a standard rollator is not made for transporting a person. Often a person who uses a rollator walker does not own a wheelchair. This hybrid rollator walker is invaluable because it converts to a wheel chair when needed. It costs a more than a standard walker but is well worth the price. It is an ingenious design that will affect the lives of many people.

As baby boomers grow older we will be using his designs not only in the hybrid rollator walker but in hospital rooms and medical equipment.

In 2012, Michael Graves earned the Driehaus Prize Laureate for his expansive body of work that enhances our ever day life. The hybrid rollator walker is just one small piece of his truly remarkable work.