The Tennessee Aquarium is offering new and larger wheelchairs for guests needing mobility aid during their visit. Morning Pointe Senior Living is sponsoring the service, allowing the aquarium to provide it at no cost.
The Tennessee Aquarium previously offered manual wheelchair rental, but the cost of maintaining the equipment necessitated charging a fee for their use. As the existing chairs aged, they became more difficult and costly to maintain.
The new funding will allow guests to check out a wheelchair upon arrival at no cost.
“Even guests who are mobile in their daily lives might not be comfortable walking for an entire tour of both aquarium buildings,” says Micheal Floyd, Tennessee Aquarium’s vice president and chief guest experience officer. “This new fleet of wheelchairs provides them with an alternative and makes our facility more accessible to guests of all ages, abilities and means.”
Tours of the aquarium typically take about two hours and have a walking distance of about 1 mile.
The new fleet is composed of 12 20-inch-wide manual wheelchairs and three 24-inch-wide chairs.
Morning Pointe’s sponsorship also facilitates a service contract with a local vendor that will keep the fleet maintained for years to come.
To check out a wheelchair for use during an aquarium tour, guests can visit the information desk near the River Journey Gift Shop, where wheelchairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis. A photo ID is required.
Source: Tennessee Aquarium