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Resident says city is balking on wheelchair ramp promise
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 Pamela Bell has been disabled for more than three years.
When a spinal cord injury eventually made the Jacksonville resident
wheelchair bound a year and a half ago, Bell found herself living in an
apartment not properly devised for her new situation.
On a fixed income, Bell said she has had to look everywhere for
assistance to help modify her home. When all hope seemed lost, she
found help in the city of Jacksonville's Community Development
Division.
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Travis Hearn comes home
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Travis Hearn, the injured Rock Island Rocks
football player who's been rehabbing at the Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago for the past few months, is now home. A medical team transferred him from Chicago into the Friendship Manor senior living facility Wednesday afternoon. "We're
excited that Travis is back here in the Quad Cities, available to all
his friends and family and the community which has provided such great
support to this young man in an unfortunate situation," said Ted
Pappas, president and CEO of Friendship Manor.
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Firm provides ramps for handicapped
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Mike Cleary has installed more than 100 metal ramps for disability
access in residences (as well as in commercial buildings) since
launching his own business two years ago. "I grew up assisting an uncle who suffered a spinal cord injury as
a teenager," Cleary said. "Later in life, my oldest child was born with
cerebral palsy and cognitive impairment. I have a very strong empathy
for people with disabilities."
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Neighbors extend helping hand
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Community members have banded together to assist a family through its tragedy.
On Dec. 23, Dave Thompson was one of the survivors of a fatal car accident on state Route 9 in Hurricane.
He was transported to LDS Hospital with a spinal cord injury.
Danielle Thompson, 22, one of Dave's daughters, said it is still
uncertain when he will be released from the hospital, but doctors say
it could take about four weeks.
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Officer's home gets makeover
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REDONDO BEACH - The workers came early, armed with
buckets and shovels, laboring hard for a pair of cops and a baby most
had never met. On a quiet suburban street on Saturday, the crew of
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" gave up their weekend for no added
pay, no special perks, united in their goal to build a new home for
wheelchair-bound Los Angeles Police Department Officer Kristina Ripatti
and her family. Ripatti, who carries a bullet in her spine after a fight
with a robbery suspect four months ago, had spent her nights sleeping
separately from her husband, fellow Officer Tim Pearce, and
20-month-old daughter Jordan.
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Never enough friends
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 Giving back to a man who was once active in the community through FFA
and 4-H, many friends and neighbors helped make it possible for Larry
Goehring and his wife Nicky to move back into Fairfield.
Donating time and sometimes
material, friends, neighbors, relatives and even a Sunday school class
have painted, cleaned, redone wood floors and replaced woodwork around
new doors and windows. The house was made handicap accessible through
the widening of a few doorways and addition of new decks with ramps.
Larry has been confined to a wheelchair since his neck was broken in a
freak farm accident April 1, 1981. He was attempting to right a
building that had been blown down by heavy winds when it fell on him.
Larry Goehring, wheelchair bound since a spinal cord injury in 1981,
maneuvers his way down a recently built entrance ramp to the front door.
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Firefighters, family join to help paralyzed teen
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Volunteers double size of Cottage Hill home
It was a summer day at Pensacola Beach spent with family and friends.
Cory Jackson dashed across the sand, dived head-first into the Gulf of Mexico and hit his head on a sand bar.
When
he resurfaced, he couldn't move. Three vertebrae were broken. His
spinal cord was bruised. He couldn't move from the chest down.
From that day forward -- July 3, 2005 -- Cory would be paralyzed.
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Scotland gets landmark housing project for people with spinal injuries
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 The heads of two charitable organisations have come together to mark the start of a housing project to help people from across Scotland build new lives after spinal cord injury.
Margaret Blackwood Housing Association and ASPIRE - the Association for Spinal Injury Research Rehabilitation and Reintegration - will work together to provide suitably adapted housing and support that will aid recovery from the trauma resulting from spinal cord injury.
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ADAPT Launches Campaign for Accessible, Affordable, Integrated Housing
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Targets Alfonso Jackson, Secretary of HUD Nashville- Over 400 ADAPT members ended a day of non-violent civil disobedience at the Nashville Office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Protesters blocked the entrance of the building chanting and expected a long stay after requesting a meeting with the Director. Within one hour, Director William Dirl came out to meet ADAPT. Cassie James, Campaign Coordinator for Access Across America (AAA), presented a letter for Secretary Alfonso Jackson detailing ADAPT’s demands. “See,when you meet with us, we go away,” James said with a smile.
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Parliament's front door not ready for paralyzed MP
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OTTAWA -- Canada's first quadriplegic MP was forced to take a back entrance through the kitchen yesterday to join his new colleagues for lunch in the swank parliamentary restaurant. Steven Fletcher's large motorized wheelchair is too big for the otherwise accessible elevators used by most diners. That's just one challenge facing the new Conservative MP for the Charleswood-St. James riding in Manitoba.
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Accessible Housing
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