Lift for enabling a person in a wheelchair into and out of a pool or body of water

A lift enabling the entry and exit of a person in a wheelchair from the wheelchair and into a pool and out of the pool back into the wheelchair, the wheelchair including a pair of front and rear wheels and a seat, the pool including substantially vertical sides and a substantially horizontal deck defining an upper edge, said lift comprising:

• a positioning platform securable to the pool deck at the edge thereof, said platform having two spaced apart front sections defining an opening therebetween, each section capable of receiving a respective one of the front wheels of the wheelchair, such that when the wheelchair is disposed thereon, at least a portion of the front edge of the seat of the wheelchair can be positioned vertically with respect to the water surface over the water and spaced from the pool edge, said platform including a stop for preventing movement of the wheelchair beyond a front edge portion of the front sections,
• a powered mechanism positionable on the platform and including a lift seat alignable with the forward edge of the seat of the wheelchair in an up position of the mechanism whereby movement of the person from the seat of the wheelchair to the lift seat and from the lift seat to the seat of the wheelchair is an essentially horizontal movement transverse to the forward edge of the wheelchair seat,
• at least one side rail anchorable adjacent a side of the positioning platform, the side rail forwardly extendable over the pool, the side rail for grasping by the person using the wheelchair in the movement of that person from the wheelchair seat to the lift seat and from the lift seat the wheelchair seat;
• and
• control means for directing the elevation of the mechanism from the up position whereby the lift seat is in an essentially horizontal alignment with the wheelchair seat to a down position in which the lift seat is in the pool.