One thing we love about living and working in the Kootenays is that despite the region’s vast geographical footprint, we’re a tightly knit group. There’s a kinship bred by the fresh air, breathtaking vistas and relative isolation from BC’s larger urban centres that fosters a neighbourly disposition, even amongst those hundreds of kilometres apart.
The most recent date on our professional event calendar is one of our absolute favourites: the Kootenay Rehab Equipment Expo (REE). This year’s two-day event in Cranbrook (May 26) and Castlegar (May 27) brought together equipment manufacturers from across Canada here to our home base to meet, mingle and exhibit their wares with clinicians from across the region – some making the trip from as far as Golden.
Kootenay Columbia Home Medical Equipment (KCHME) was delighted to present both stops on the caravan, with the Cranbrook event co-presented by Pharmasave. Trade show partners included Accora, Blake Medical, Broda, Drive Medical, Etac Ki Mobility, Evergreeen Medical Products, Evolution Technologies, Invacare/Matrx seating/Commodes, Kootenay Ramps and Access, LIFEmed Canada, Med Supply Sales/Motion/RAZ, Medi Canada, Neil Squire Society, Permobil, Pride Mobility, Rehasense Canada, Sunrise Medical, and Vision Loss Rehab Canada.
This year’s event ushered in a minor change in format: instead of hosting a one-day event yearly in Cranbrook, it is now a two-day event held every other year with stops in Cranbrook and a second in Castlegar. This change saves equipment manufacturers the expense of having to make the trek out this way every year, while also providing greater scheduling flexibility for clinicians.
While we treasure REE for the way it brings our great community together, we are equally all-in for its educational component. This event is the perfect way to touch and try all the latest equipment and get into a deep Q&A with the manufacturer rep, enabling us to better assist our clients when we get back to the shop. It’s one thing to read about how a product works in support literature or watch a video demo on YouTube, and another thing entirely to interact with the product live.
We are passionate about matching the right equipment with each client’s unique need and physiology, and being able to experience the equipment we decide to sell first-hand enables us to deliver on that mission. Of perhaps even greater importance, clinicians also have the opportunity to experience these products themselves, giving them greater confidence when prescribing specific equipment for their clients. REE is a win-win for everyone.
Jed Tremblay, a registered occupational therapist (MScOT) from Cranbrook, understands the value in bringing the Rehab Equipment Expo to the Kootenays: “Being in a small town, we don’t get as many opportunities to see and learn about the latest industry developments first hand. This event was a great way to meet people and expand my industry contacts. There are even a few companies whose solutions I wasn’t aware of that I can now reach out to, to better help my clients.”
“One of our key priorities is to offer urban service standards in a rural model,” continues David Stokes, co-owner of KCHME. “What that means is to offer all the product intelligence, choice and availability found in the bigger cities, combined with a more personalized family-style client relationship. We want to be as good as anybody in a city, but treat each customer like the small town, small business we are. Industry events like REE allow us to stay at the forefront of industry developments, enabling us to support the Kootenays with access to the newest rehab equipment, regardless of our more rural location.”
We are always intrigued by emerging products and this year’s event highlighted the variety of power-assisted add-ons for manual wheelchairs now available. We have been following this market category for a while, published a blog on the topic a couple of years ago, and the technology continues to amaze. There were four or five different power-assisted devices at this year’s REE, and each offered a different iteration on the freedom offered to manual wheelchair users. Fortunately, by being at REE, we were able to try them all and understand the unique benefits offered by each. If you or someone you know owns a manual wheelchair and wants to enjoy some of the benefits of a motorized chair without the constraints of both the size and price of a full-sized power wheelchair, contact us today.
Thanks again to all REE Kootenay attendees. We look forward to seeing you all again in our hometown in 2028.