Apparatus for supporting and lifting a person in a seated position

An apparatus comprising:

• (a) a rigid frame including (i) a left upright member, (ii) an open-ended left tube attached to a lower end of the left upright member in a longitudinal arrangement, (iii) a right upright member, (iv) an open-ended right tube attached to a lower end of the right upright member in a longitudinal arrangement, and (v) one or more cross members connecting together the left and right upright members in a transversely spaced-apart arrangement that is sufficiently wide to enable the frame to straddle thighs or hips of a person between the left and right tubes;
• (b) a sheet of flexible material having (i) upper, lower, left side, and right side edges, (ii) a pair of collinear left sleeves attached to a lower portion of the left edge with a gap therebetween at least as long as a length of the left tube, and (iii) a pair of collinear right sleeves attached to a lower portion of the right edge with a gap therebetween at least as long as a length of the right tube, (iv) wherein an upper portion of the sheet and corresponding upper portions of the left and right side edges extend beyond the pairs of left and right sleeves toward the upper edge of the sheet, and (v) wherein a lower portion of the sheet is at least as wide between the left and right sleeves as distance between the left and right tubes;
• and
• (c) a pair of rigid rods, wherein (i) a left rod of the pair is longer than the left tube and has transverse shape and dimensions that enable the left rod to be inserted through the left tube and at least partly through the left sleeves and (ii) a right rod of the pair is longer than the right tube and has transverse shape and dimensions that enable the right rod to be inserted through the right tube and at least partly through the right sleeves,
• (d) one or both of an upper portion of the frame or the upper portion of the sheet being structurally arranged so as to enable attachment of the upper portion of the sheet to, and detachment of the upper portion of the sheet from, the upper portion of the frame.