Car hand controls let senior stay on the road

IOWA CITY - Realtors spend a lot of time in their cars, shuttling between house showings, bank closings and client meetings.

So when Dick McKeen, a longtime Realtor for Lepic-Kroeger, was sidelined with multiple surgeries on his left leg and a right forefoot he couldn't raise, it was a trial for him and his wife, Kathleen McKeen, director of the State Health Registry of Iowa.

'I didn't drive for a year-and-a-half,” said Dick McKeen, 83. 'Kathleen or other friends would pick me up. It's no fun being housebound.”

Then McKeen learned about the adaptive driving program at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids. Christina Beck, a certified driver rehabilitation specialist, teaches people with disabilities how to drive with adaptive controls that include hand controls instead of foot pedals.

Beck estimates half her patients are seniors, like McKeen, who don't want to lose the freedom of driving.

'Many of them come to me thinking it's their last chance,” she said. 'It's a bigger part of their lives than the younger ones.”

McKeen had his Buick SUV adapted to include a lever just left of the steering wheel that allows him to pull back to accelerate and push forward to brake, bypassing the foot controls. A knob on the steering wheel - just like the tractors and pickups of McKeen's childhood - allows him to steer one handed so his other hand can work the lever.

The modifications were done by Siebert Mobility, of Iowa City, which also adapts vans to be wheelchair accessible. When Kathleen McKeen wants to drive the car, she can remove the device and have free use of the pedals, Dick McKeen said.

But before McKeen could hit the road, he needed to learn how to drive in a new way. He went out for three one-hour driving lessons with Beck, the first in a parking lot. 'The second time was on I-380,” McKeen said. 'Christina said she wanted me to pass a truck.”

Not everyone learns so quickly, Beck said.

'A good majority need four to five (sessions), but some people need many more, 20 plus,” she said. 'He did a really nice job.”

Drivers then must go to the Iowa Department of Transportation to pass the driving test, which McKeen did in September, to earn a license that includes a restriction for hand controls.

When McKeen wants to drive somewhere, he uses a walker to get to the car, sits on the seat and uses his hands to pull his legs into the driver's seat. He keeps a second walker and a cane in the back seat for when he reaches his destination.

Being able to drive allows McKeen to continue to dabble in real estate.

'I don't have the legs to do showings anymore,” McKeen said. But a couple of people in the Lepic-Kroeger office take care of that and let McKeen focus on helping return customers.

He's a careful driver because he values his newfound privilege.

'I'm super cautious,” he said, 'because I don't want something to go wrong and have it taken away.”