Volunteers adding wheelchair ramp to
North Naples man's home
Saturday, August 3, 2002
By
MARCI ELLIOTT, mrelliott@naplesnews.com
He
was a prisoner in his own home.
But now, thanks to a group of kind
hearts and volunteer builders, a North Naples man has a wheelchair ramp — and
after a few adjustments to give him more maneuvering room, he will have a
gateway to the world.
Ron Slamans soon will be able to
use the ramp to go outside and have access to public transportation. He will be
able to get to his physical therapy sessions and other places that he hasn't
been able to reach because he couldn't get his wheelchair out the door.
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"I appreciate the efforts of
everybody," Slamans said Friday evening after he first saw the ramp.
When his plight became known to
members of the recently formed HALO Coalition in Southwest Florida, they began
the wheels turning to provide Slamans, who is in his mid-50s, with the help he
needed.
Slamans and his new wheelchair ramp
are significant because he is HALO's first client — and the ramp is its first
project.
HALO, less than two months old, is
a nonprofit coalition of agencies and organizations united to assist the frail
elderly and disabled with housing, health care and other needs. It is administered
by Florida Gulf Coast University's Center for Assisted Living Innovation.
Gary Kluckhuhn, HALO's founder and
the center's director, said Slamans' wheelchair ramp project was a model of how
the coalition can help other qualified people, no matter what their needs.
Home Depot donated all the lumber
and materials.
The Collier Building Industry
Association got the word out to its member builders and three companies — the
Lykos Group, Varian Construction Co. and A.K. Construction Inc., all of Naples
— volunteered the labor.
Summerhouse, an assisted living
center in North Naples, gave Slamans a temporary place to stay for a couple of
weeks until the ramp could be built. Leigh Straub of Summerhouse, a member of
the HALO Coalition's steering committee, made the arrangements.
HALO stands for Housing and
Assisted Living Options.
"This is how HALO is supposed
to work," Kluckhuhn said. "Leigh Straub and the Summerhouse staff
were great. She truly must be an angel."
Even Collier County government got
in on the ramp project.
While there was some question about
permits needed to build the ramp and some fear there would be a delay until a
permit was issued, HALO officials and the contractors learned one wasn't needed
after all.
"No permit is required because
this is for an individual in a private home," said Ed Perico, director of
Collier's building department. "Since it wasn't designed for public use,
there's nothing to inspect. It doesn't fall under the ADA (Americans With
Disabilities Act) or any other laws for public-use facilities."
Once Perico got his message out
Thursday, Home Depot put the ramp materials on its truck and delivered them
Friday morning. By early afternoon, Lykos and the other builders were finished
and packing up to leave.
And Slamans was ready to move back
home.
"This is the kind of people
the HALO Coalition is looking to help," said Lykos, who said he also will
get the word out to other members of the Collier Building Industry Association
that there are many people like Slamans who sometimes need a little help from
their fellow man. And woman.
Cormac Giblin, housing development
manager for Collier County's Housing and Urban Development Department, said
Slamans fell through the cracks because he's a tenant in a rental home.
"If he owned his own home, he
could qualify for up to $15,000 to build that ramp and make any other repairs
and improvements he needed through the SHIP program," Giblin said.
"But because he didn't, it turned into a landlord situation and became a
big sticking point."
SHIP is the State Housing
Initiative Program, which provides zero-interest loans to qualified low-income
homeowners to repair and fix up their homes. If they stay in their homes and
don't sell, they don't have to repay the loans, Giblin said.
"It's a shame Mr. Slamans
didn't qualify for (SHIP)," he said.
That sort of situation is where the
HALO Coalition steps in, Kluckhuhn said.
The landlord gave his permission
for the ramp, Kluckhuhn said, so everything worked out well.
"I love the spirit of
cooperation," he said. "Collier County government worked beautifully
so this ramp could be built. It's phenomenal how the coalition has come
together."
For more information on the HALO
Coalition, call Gary Kluckhuhn at 732-0375 or visit the Web site, www.HALOCOALITION.org.