Riwal Lifts Families to See Loved Ones in Closed Nursing Homes
Riwal, the aerial work platform and telehandler rental and sales specialist, has provided machines to nursing homes that were closed to visitors, enabling families to visit their loved ones.
On March 18, 2020, the Dutch government made the decision to close all nursing homes to visitors in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As a response, Riwal started the ‘wave to family’ project. By providing aerial work platforms, Riwal has helped more than 250 persons at 12 different nursing homes in the Netherlands with seeing and talking to their loved ones at height.
To enable the visits, a Riwal employee first goes to the location to conduct a risk analysis, so that all safety and corona measures can be met during the visit. A scissor or boom lift with a working platform of more than 2.5 meters ensures that a Riwal employee operating the machine and the visitor can keep the appropriate social distance.
“At Riwal, we are pleased that we can provide some relief during this time,” said Glenn Verburg, country manager of Riwal Benelux. “It is a great example of putting social responsibility into practice. We have been approached by various care homes and what has been important is to be able to guarantee the safety of all involved. That is our highest priority.”
Riwal, established in 1968 and headquartered in the Netherlands, is an international rental and sales specialist of aerial work platforms, telehandlers and forklifts. Riwal has 75 branch operations in 16 countries, operates more than 20.000 units and conducts business in over 70 countries.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.