Lifts, ramps, grab bars help preserve quality of life

Next Day Access helps people to live comfortably despite the infirmities of age or injuries. They provide mobility and accessibility solutions that let people stay at home rather than go for an extended stay in rehab, a nursing home or an expensive assisted living facility.

“We try to make it as comfortable for people to stay home as long as they can,” said Kelly Inman.

She and her husband, Greg, are the corporate managers of the Next Day Access franchise in Memphis.

Their business is among just 14 such retail presences that the parent company, American Access, has established.

The store has been in Bartlett since 2011, and Greg Inman came on board in 2013. They now have a new location on Stage Post Road about a mile and a half from their old one on Brunswick.

They work with some businesses, but they mostly serve residential needs, whether that’s adults buying for elderly parents, senior citizens buying for themselves, or a person with injuries having home modifications made. The Veterans Administration also contracts with Next Day Access to provide vets with wheelchair ramps.

Kelly explained that it’s important to customers to be able to try out their business’s quality-of-life tools before they buy. At the Inmans’ new showroom, children run up the ramps, buyers get to see a walk-in tub, customers can test the feel of an installed grab bar for stability, and they check out how sturdy and steady the stair lift is.

“You can just come in our showroom, we can tell you what we have, and you can see it. You can ride the stair lift,” she said.
She and her husband find the work rewarding to help people maintain independence.

“I think that anybody that can stay at home, they heal better,” she said. “Their frame of mind mentally is better, and it’s just easier to stay at home. They want their family to come home. That’s nothing like home. That’s where we come in. We try to make their existing home better for them.”