The Resource Center for Independent Living wants you to think a little more about what would happen if you had a stroke or were in an accident that left you mobility impaired.
“You get someone who’s been in an accident and their house has four steps at either entrance — if they want to go out, it doesn’t matter; they’re stuck inside,” said office manager Donna Goodner. For an individual who has had a stroke or accident or is just no longer able to get about without help from a walker or cane, a ramp instead of steps can help provide a means to get in and out of the house, Goodner said.
“I’ve seen someone just take a piece of plywood and drop it down over their steps, and that’s not safe,” Goodner said.
Typically, a ramp costs about $1,500 to build.
“You have to be sure it’s built to Americans with Disabilities Act specifications,” she explained.
Because that cost is high for most individuals, RCIL is holding a fund-raising event at 10 a.m. Sept. 26 on the Iola square.
“We hope to have 50 to 100 people participate,” Goodner said. “We’re going to have people with walkers and wheelchairs go around the square,” Goodner said of the event. Anyone — regardless of mobility — can join them.
Before the walk, speakers will kick off the event. Miss Wheelchair Kansas has been invited, Goodner noted. Participants will be treated to a brunch of homemade breakfast burritos, biscuits and gravy and fresh fruit after walking.
The walk is similar to other pledge-based events, with a notable variation. “We’ll probably go around the square once,” Goodner said. “It’s difficult for many people to go even that far,” she said.
Participants who raise $25 will receive a free commemorative T-shirt. In addition, volunteers are needed to help push the wheelchair bound.
Sponsors who donate $100 or more will be recognized through a banner on the square and their name on the T-shirt, Goodner said. “And,” noted Targeted Case Manager Andrea Hermreck noted, “because we’re a nonprofit the donation is tax deductible.”
Funds will be used to purchase ramp materials.
In an effort to make funds go further, RCIL employees will build the ramps themselves.
RCIL Peer Services members, disabled individuals who assist others with finding support services, initiated the Build-a-Ramp program, Goodner said.
“The Peers in this area have a waiting list of people who need ramps,” Goodner said.
Contact Goodner at the RCIL office, 365-8144, to sign up or make a donation.
“There are so many things that can disable you, or put you in a wheelchair,” Goodner said, “We don’t even think about it.”
STEPHANIE MERRIAM had never thought about it, either.
Just a month shy of her 18th birthday, Merriam, originally from Coffeyville, was in a motorcycle accident that left her with permanent spinal nerve damage.
“My brain was like scrambled eggs,” she said.
She spent the next three months in a coma.
“When I came out, I was like a baby,” Merriam said. “I had to learn how to walk, talk, eat again. My doctors told me I would never walk.”
Pure spunk and years of rehabilitation, though, have Merriam up and about once more — to a degree. She still suffers from spasms and “startles easily,” she said. She needs assistance getting around. Ramps help her in and out of buildings.
Merriam is just one of about 300 clients served by RCIL, said Hermreck. The agency’s Iola office serves clients “from here to Coffeyville to Baxter Springs to Pleasanton,” Goodner said. Many clients are in Iola, Chanute and Fort Scott. “We are pretty much everywhere,” Hermreck said. Statewide, the agency serves over 2,000 people.
There are 12 regional RCIL offices, Hermreck said. The agency provides disabled individuals with free counseling and case management. They offer, free of charge, life skills training and loans of durable medical equipment to those in need. They offer peer support and information referral, along with advocating for the disabled.
Building ramps, though, is new, the women said.
Along with soliciting donations of funds and materials, the agency is applying for grants for the project.
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