After distributing wheelchairs worldwide during the past four years, the Church is teaming with BYU students to ensure the chairs are providing the best possible service to those in need.

Photo courtesy Humanitarian Services

Child from Afghanistan uses donated wheelchair. BYU students are conducting surveys to ensure quality of Church-distributed wheelchairs.

Photo courtesy Humanitarian Services

Thousands gather in China at an event where the Church, as part of a major initiative, distributed wheelchairs to those in need. Since 2001, the Church has distributed 176,583 wheelchairs in 97 countries.

With a wheelchair, the Church is also "giving a person with a disability something that will improve their quality of life," said Rich McKenna, director of Church Humanitarian Services.

Since 2001, the Church has distributed 176,583 wheelchairs in 97 countries. An evaluation of the program last year showed that those wheelchairs have had a "profound impact on a disabled individual's ability to provide income for themselves." In addition, said Brother McKenna, the wheelchairs have had a larger impact on the individual's family members to provide for the family.

However, the evaluation found that in a very small percentage of cases, wheelchairs break down or need repairs. So the Church asked BYU engineering students to evaluate the chairs, specifically looking at the type of tire used.

"It was all aimed to improve the quality of the chair," said Brother McKenna.

When the students found both solid rubber tires and pneumatic tires, like the kind used on a bicycle, perform equally well and both had advantages, the Church asked BYU business students to conduct a survey, determining which tire best serves the user.

As a result, BYU students are now working in the Dominican Republic, performing a "full range of statistical analysis," said Mark Thomas, director of Field Studies for the BYU Marriott School of Management.

The Dominican Republic was selected simply because the Church, as part of a current initiative, was already distributing wheelchairs there, said Brother McKenna.

Brother Thomas said students are conducting interviews with those who have received Latter-day Saint-produced wheelchairs in an effort to determine which chair better serves them. Some chairs, for example, would maneuver better on dirt roads, while others may work better on city streets. They planned to track needed repairs on the chairs, if there were any.

"We don't know but we suspect that in different parts of the country they will prefer one wheelchair over another," he said. "We are also going to find out a little about the impact of the wheelchair. We are going to try to find out, through secondary research and surveys, how we can better serve people."

The research, he said, will have quantitative reliability and be statistically significant.

Brother Thomas said that BYU conducts similar projects for numerous major companies or organizations across the country. This project, however, had greater student interest than most.

"In this project there was enormous interest, which says a lot for the students, that they would consider this an important part of their education, to go out and help people."

The Church began a formalized wheelchair initiative in 2003, first teaming with the Wheelchair Foundation and then contracting with companies to produce chairs themselves, overseeing distribution of the chairs and ensuring quality control through the entire process.

"Our goal," Brother McKenna said, "in addition to providing a wheelchair to a person with a disability— and helping them become more self-reliant — is to strengthen local organizations that are serving the needs of the disabled."

That might include working with communities to promote accessibility for the disabled, providing career workshops, or rehabilitation training, he said.

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