The rails of the “Seatrac”, a solar-powered device which allows people with kinetic disabilities to enter and get out of the sea autonomously, are seen in the sea at a beach in Alepochori, west of Athens.
ALEPOCHORI: Paralysed from the waist down, Lefteris Theofilou has spent nearly half his life bound to a wheelchair and recalls as if it were a dream the first time a solar-powered chair enabled him to swim on his own in the Greek sea.
“It was unreal,” Theofilou, 52, a burly mechanic with greying hair, said as he lifted himself off his wheelchair one warm summer evening, sat on the chair and with the push of a button rode, unassisted, 20m to the shore and into the water. “It makes you feel free and able to do things you could not imagine you could do on your own,” he said.
Founded by a team of Greek scientists in 2008 and covered by European and USpatent laws, the ‘Seatrac’ device operates on a fixed-track mechanism which allows up to 30 wheelchairs to be moved in and out of the water a day — all powered by solar energy.
Currently, 11 devices operate in Greece and there are plans to expand the network.
But despite Seatrac’s growing appeal — it has already been exported to Cyprus and the team are in talks with architects in Croatia, France, the United Arab Emirates and Israel — it faces hurdles in Greece, where facilities for the disabled are poor.
Seatrac’s founders have taken advantage of Greece’s climate — the country is drenched in sun almost year-round — meaning that the devices can be set up easily on beaches without an electric line to hand and taken down at the end of the season, all without damaging the environment.
The team hope the device could boost tourism, but lament a lack of support by the local authorities which bought the device for ¤30,000 ($40,000) each and are responsible for maintenance after the first year. Engineer Ignatios Fotiou, one of the inventors, likened the lack of support to “building a penthouse apartment without a building underneath it”.
At a busy beach in the coastal town of Alepochori near Athens, vandalism and theft of the solar panel are common. Often, parents watch as their teenage children use the machine as a diving board.
Minas Georgakis, whose wife Matoula Kastrioti, 46, suffers from multiple sclerosis and is in a wheelchair, said he had to take matters into his own hands because help from the local administration “simply does not exist”.
With wooden planks, he built an additional ramp to allow access to the Seatrac as wheelchairs could not be driven over sand. Even so, the path leading to the device is often blocked by parked motorcycles and uncollected garbage.
“I feel bitter,” Theofilou said of the lack of support to nods of agreement by Kastrioti who waited for her turn to board.
Reuters
