ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Step into the Enable Me office in St. Petersburg and visitors will be surrounded by medical chairs of all shapes and sizes. 

“We do a lot of neurological rehab. You'll see this equipment if you go to the Tampa VA. We do a lot with our veterans," said Mike Laky, Enable Me President, VELA Medical. “The common thread here is all the casters lock in place.” 

Laky can talk for hours about each chair, and how it can help either in a doctors office or in someone's home. 

What You Need To Know

  • Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death among adults ages 65 and older, and the CDC reports those deaths are increasing

  • Mike Laky is the President of Enable Me, a company owned by Vela

  • Laky said Enable Me provides state-of-the-art equipment to hospitals and rehabilitation centers

“I think as human nature, until you lose something or the ability to do something, you don't know how much you missed it or appreciated it," said Laky. 

He was speaking from experience.

Laky's mother, just six months after her retirement, had a severe stroke. 

“Back then, the amount of technology that was available to promote independence and allow people to do things safely and maybe get back to doing things that they love is not where the technology is today," he said. "I would have loved to have one of these chairs for my mother." 

That is when he transitioned from his job in end-of-life care to distributing medical chairs in St. Pete. 

He started the company Enable Me 27 years ago. It did so well, it was later purchased by the company Vela. 

One of the newest chairs Laky sells is a mammography chair. 

"There is a huge number of disabled women that just bypass the mammography altogether," said Laky, when explaining why the chair was developed. 

Laky said he has acquired many local and national contracts over the years.