TriBoro Driver Rehab - The Perlowitz Show

standing here today on Avenue M and Coney Island Avenue. Have you ever thought that the impossible is impossible? We're going to bring you here today to see that everything is possible. This is going to be a very unique interview today. Very interesting vlog. Fascinating. It's going to blow your minds. Troy Borrow with Ellie Shore. Ellie, good morning. Good morning, Ellie. Welcome. Welcome. I'm so happy I made it here. I so long wanted to come here for one reason. Like I started off my interview outside that the impossible becomes possible here. That's what we're here for. That's what we're here for. Turn on the mic first. Clip it in over there. This is a place that miracles happen. Absolutely. Welcome. First of all, here Tri Bar Driver Rehab. Let's hear a little more about it. Give us a rundown. Okay. So, what Tribar Driver Rehab is, it's a driving school that's geared for people with disabilities. People who never drove before, people who have been driving, there's they have a disability, some sort of medical issue, and they want to go back to driving, they want to continue driving. And what we do is we specialize from A to Z. Anything related, medical related with driving, we're the place to come. So it's driver rehabilitation and mobility services. What does that mean? That if a person thought that he can't drive, he unfortunately has go through the the So let's say let's give a typical case. You have a guy who's a diabetic and he has something called neuropathy. He's uh 52 years old and he can't feel his leg. His foot is slipping off the brake pedal, right? And he can't drive, but he has to continue life, of course. So you call me up, you come down here, we evaluate you. We start with evaluation. Um, I'm going to take a look at what the issue is. Why is your foot slipping off? How severe is is the neuropathy? How severe is is the numbness in the leg? And then we'll look at do we want to do with a left foot gas pedal? Do we want to use a hand controls? Wow. So, basically, you customize the car to what the guy needs. If he needs a left foot, it should be a gas and the right whatever. Correct. And then you have you have you have someone who's let's say born with let's say spobipida or cerebopaly and um whether they're in a wheelchair whether they're in a power wheelchair manual wheelchair and I'll evaluate them see what it is that the def what's their deficit. Then we'll get them into my car with special equipment. Okay. So Kim let me show you some some stuff. So for instance, someone has a stroke and they're paralyzed on the right side of the body. The doctor calls me and doctor says, "Listen, I need you to evaluate this person. Figure out what you could do with him." So this is what we call left accelerator. It gets installed on the floor and it clips into into the vehicle. And then when you press this pedal, you're essentially uh it's pivoting off of the original gas pedal. This is what we call left foot accelerate. He's able to drive with his left side. Wow. Then you have someone who was born with, let's say, um, some sort of, uh, dwarfism or they're they're just a little they're shorter. So, we have pedal extension systems where I can make these pedal extensions up to 18 in. I can even add on, let's say, someone who's just 4' 5 in tall and they just need like 3 4 in or 2 in and I'll they need to level off the pedals. So, I have special um, I'm able to customize it for that. So you basically extend the gas and brake and the brake with a platform that they're able to to rest the heel and it's able to pivot in a way that it's almost like the original like they're driving with a regular gas and brake pedal. They don't feel a difference. They don't feel a difference. But somebody with one foot is that so someone with with a right leg amputation we can drive with the left foot left foot accelerator or we can go with hand controls. So hand controls come in different styles. There's leftsided there's right side mounted hand controls. And I'm going to show you an interesting hand control we have over here. This is a hand control which goes on the right side. It actually has some buttons built in where we could wire the car that he has all his signals and his horn and his brights, everything all in one hand. And I'm going to show you the only if if he's posio, he can't move around, right? And again, it's all types of disabilities. Now, I just want to take a step back. When it comes to disabilities, you could have sometimes just someone who a elderly parent um who who may have some sort of dementia or may have gotten into an accident and you're not sure if they could continue driving. Someone had a stroke and the doctor's not sure if they could go back to driving or not. They can come to me. I can evaluate them. I'm going to look at the cognition, look at the visual perception, look at the physical abilities, get them in the car, get them driving, whether it's on the highway, the local. We're going to get them driving. We're going to make sure that they're 100% to continue driving safely. So, you can sign them off that they're 100% fine and the DMV is going to approve that. Correct. And not only that, the DMV actually sends people to us. So, someone gets into a car accident, they're a diabetic and they go unconscious. So, they have a seizure and the guy's like, I want to go back to driving. Well, the DMV says, well, you need to get signed off by a doctor and by a driver rehab specialist. So, they get sent to me. I'll evaluate them and I'll I'll take them out driving. Fascinating fact. One last thing I also want to point out is that my the one who we started the company we started in 2012. I started with Ran Zidell and what he does something more unique. He does what we call high-tech. He does people with um musculardrophe or a spinal cord injury all the way up where they could barely move their hands. And the same way they drive their power wheelchair, we have vehicles that are wheelchair accessible. No way. And not only that, they have joysticks. We able to control the vehicle 100% with the joystick. So, what I'm going to do is also I'm going to send you some videos um for your viewers to see. Very interesting stuff some of the joystick controlled systems that we have. Also, recently I taught someone actually without arms. He has no arms and we had to customize and think out of the box, figure out how to get him in the car, sit him up on prop him up on special cushions and how he actually drives with his feet. And this is fascinating. This is one of the most unique cases that I did. But what we do over here is every single person they get evaluated and we customize down to specifically what they need. Not only that, sometimes someone says, "Listen, I'm I'm just scared. My foot slipped off." Ask them what happened. Well, I had chemotherapy and it affected the nerve endings on my foot and I'm afraid I'm afraid one in a thousand times that I'm going to drive. I'm afraid my foot's going to slip off. So, what I'm going to do for that person is I'll put a handbrake. Wow. As a backup system. So again, we're looking to what's driving the disabil, what's driving the issue. What's the issue you have you're dealing with and I'm going to customize a program for you, get you in the car and make you confident when you get into the car. That's what we're looking to do. Unreal has a famous song about somebody with disabilities with, you know, he couldn't get get himself to walk. And and by the way, you people live in places even in Lakewood. I mean, you could be anywhere. You could be in Muny. If you don't have a driver's license, you're stuck at home. You feel isolated isolated and you and and by the way affects the mental health. Of course. Of course. Of course. And you you go around to Lakewood. We travel. So I have I I I travel from the five burrows. Of course we travel to Westchester, upstate New York. Um really across the whole area, the Long Island. We come to the client. We will we'll come to the client. We make it happen. You make it happen. You make it work. We make it work. You open gates. We make it work. And my the biggest enjoyment I have is watching people. I see people driving all the time. I see people unreal. You say, "Oh, that's my car. That's my student. That's my student. I know this family. I help them out." And by the way, it lifts up the whole It lifts up family. Somebody with disability can have a car and get out and go drive. He's he's he's alive. And a lot of people who have this who get a disability later on in life, they could be 45 years old. The life is going perfect and all a sudden they had an accident. They broke the right leg and they shattered. They have to be off the lake for 6 months a and the life they feel like the life fell apart. It doesn't. We could figure a way how to get you continue going and again when you you come to try borrow. We're going to figure it out for you. Wow. Okay. Ellie, take us to your car. I want to say show my viewers your car. Which car is yours? Right here. There's a car. We use a regular car. We And let me show you. It's regular. You don't see any any anything that's but everything is customized. Let me show you inside. So over here I set up over here a right side mount and hand control. Okay. Wow. And that's your gas and brake. Also got one minute. There's no gas pedal in this car. It's attached to the gas pedal through the hand. Through the hand. It's attached to the gas pedal. Now this is we call a gas and brake guard. So we don't want the person who can't feel his legs. We don't want him hitting the gas and brake pedal interfering. Okay. So we put this on. Now that's amazing. This a special spinner knob. Um Kim, come around and I'm going to show you a little bit more. I I seen that over there. So you see the guy has a breaker blocked by that guard that correct. Not only that, this is a custom. Everything's custom for the signal extension to the right side to the left side. Everything's all custom made. And there's a special spinner knob what they use which has built-in buttons. Again, everything that's the horn, that's the signals, everything could be customized. So somebody can't reach you saying his hands are short. And I want to show you one more thing before we go for a spin cuz I really want to take you for a spin. I want to show you how things work. Okay, so this is the left foot accelerator. we spoke about. Now, let's say the the person who I trained needs a le accelerator, but he shares the car with a family. This comes on and off the same way this comes on and off. So, we have a little plate on the floor. So, it's a family car. He just correct. We have a few lifted pins. We go like that. Now, the gas pedal, the original is blocked. His foot is not going to interfere with that. And gas brake. Gas brake. So, you're saying his right left foot is going to work for the gas? His left foot is going to work for the gas. And on the brake pedal. Wow. Wow. It's not going to interfere with in the correct. And the family is ready to go to drive. Boom. She That's amazing. You're going to tell me somebody without any feet could drive this car. Correct. And I'm going to send you a video of someone without hands who could uh drive the car as well. That's crazy. Let me put this in the back. Kim, let's go for a spin. Let me show you how this works. Let's go. Okay. So, we have extra mirrors also as well. Kim, when I'm sitting in the passenger seat, I could actually see what's going on from the driver. So, now I'm going to put the car on. Okay, this is my hand control. This is brake. This is gas. And I'm going to pull out of here. Okay. Wow. So, you're driving with your hand. This is insane. This is insane. Never saw anything like this. And again, there's different ways of doing it. This is the right side of mounted hand control. And the way we pick the hand control, it it depends on who I'm working with. So, if someone's very tall, we don't want to have hand controls on the left side cuz hard to get in and out of the car. Also, someone has a fancier car. Um, you know, they want something really simple but the elegant that that doesn't take up a lot of space. So, also another thing is let's say someone has a um uh issue with his uh right shoulder. He so he can't really turn the steering wheel with a spinner knob, right? So, that's why we're going to put the spinner knob on the left side so he can control the car with one hand cuz this shoulder is is better, right? So, this shoulder could actually crank the wheel. Wow. But if the if the right hand was better, then I would put the spinner up on this side. I put the hand controls on this side. Now, another thing is sometimes people have very very weak hands and they just can't turn the steering wheel. I have a vehicle actually that has something called zero effort steering. I can make the steering wheel as soft as a as a fidget spinner. Really? So, you have a brake over here for the passenger for when you're in the passenger seat. You're going to be able to break at any time. And now I'm I'm breaking again, pushing for brake, pulling on the gas, and I have six different type of hand controls that I use, plus the joystick systems that we have in our wheelchair accessible van. And I can move the spinner knobs to different positions depending on who I'm I'm working with, right? Someone with MS, again, they can't turn the steering wheel cuz they don't they don't have the strength to cross the top. So, we got to start off higher up, you know? So, it depends who I'm working with. Everything is customized. This is called a signal extension. So, let's say someone's paralyzed on the right side. He had a stroke. So, we're going to put a spinner knob right over here like this. Okay. And he's going to put use the signals like this. So it's a signal extension. So his hand doesn't have to go all the way back. Correct. Not only that, you're saying his left side doesn't work. His left side doesn't work. Now let's say someone's So that means his left left foot doesn't need to work. He only has one foot. So his left leg, right? Does he doesn't drive his left leg. He's driving with his regular right leg. He's driving his right leg. He keeps a spinner knob over here and a signal extension on the right side. Wow. Not only that, we think of everything. Let's say someone is paralyzed on his right side. So he's driving the left foot gas pedal and he has a spinner knob over here on the left side. Okay. And he has a little single extension just to help him so he doesn't have to take his hand. But now he has a hard time getting to the seat belt cuz again he used to use his right hand to put the seat belt in. I'm going to put a seat belt extension that's 12 in and boom bring it right up to his hip. No problem. Unreal. So every single thing we think straight to to to the last detail and I'm going to give you guidance of which um which restrictions need to go on your driver's license. So in New York you have uh glasses you have a B restriction right over here for hand controls there's an X1 there's a Z there's different you know different restrictions everything's going to be written on my report um why why you were evaluated what my recommendations are what type of equipment you need what restrictions you need and I'm going to give you guidance of who the mobility dealers are based on where you live the guys who install it also what go to the DMV what to tell them and so on amazing let me just ask you the tuk you have when you see somebody who doesn't have hands, doesn't have feet, has no chance in his mind to drive and you get him on the road driving. How does it feel? It it's amazing. I want to tell you something. There's a lot of easier jobs out there. This is a job where you're sitting in a car sometimes and it's not easy cuz you know you're dealing with people who can't drive. It's a lot. You know, you're starting they're starting off. They they don't know how to drive and it takes a lot of nerves. But the reason I do it is because I'm able to make a pnosa but at the same time help someone in the medical with with a disability. You could do two things at once and when you see them getting back and the family just be you know it's it's it's amazing. The whole family gets changed. How's the I'm I'm sure you have you know you have you can make many over the years that you have you know disabled boys and disabled girls. Has it ever happened that the So far already three of my stu three set sets of my students have gotten married engaged each other married with kids now I I didn't I wasn't involved in in in those but I do get phone calls all the time people do you know anybody from my son do you know my daughter and guess what I part of what what I do is sometimes I have to go back if I taught someone in 2013 13 how to drive with a certain type of hand control. And a 2015 I taught the boy who again they weren't dating yet. I taught him how to drive a different type of hand control. I have to modify figure out a modification that they could both drive the same car. The boy and the girl kabush. Exactly. And we do we do couple we do couple lessons sometimes. It's amazing. So Ellie, people are going to watch this. People going to be inspired and people going to want to reach out to you. So what is the number to call WhatsApp text you? What's the number? So you could call me directly on my cell phone, WhatsApp me. Um the number is 917399541. Okay. And um you could also email me. It's leborerehab.com. That's t r i b o r o r e hab.com. And uh maybe if you could put it up on the screen. Of course. We're going to put the the number on the email on the screen. And wherever I go, Ellie, you always know I do a promotion. So what's going to be the promotion today? So I have a special promotion which I give to certain doctor's offices because they send me a lot of of their of their patients. um certain hospitals that you know that I work very closely closely with you know I'm doing this for 13 years so I made relationships with different hospitals and I have a deal with them that you know they send the patient I want to take care of the patients I'm going to do the same thing for you um we're going to give off $100 on the first session on the evaluation so the first session is an evaluation after that as a follow-up training but for the evaluation anybody who um when they call me they mention my name we always ask who referred you know we want to know who who referred you you mention and pearl with status. Um, we're going to give the $100 discount. Amazing, Ellie. Wow. Thank you so much. That's nice of you. And thank you for what you do. Really, it's amazing that you're how you're helping colleial society or wherever it is. You know, you're getting people out out. You're making people live cuz like we all know, if you don't have a car, you're stuck at home. And it's it's unreal. I'm I'm inspired myself just seeing what you're doing. Keep it up, Ellie. Keep up your good work. Thank you. It's amazing. Amazing. Thank you so much. [Music]