HIGH COUNTRY NEWS June 01, 2006

MEDAccess Offers a Customized Approach to Accessibility Challenges

Story by Sally Treadwell

Perhaps you’ve been in a car accident and, after several surgeries and a long rehab, you’re ready to come home. But you need to use a wheelchair or crutches—temporarily, or even forever.

Or maybe your aging parents hate the idea of an extended care facility. You realize that a happier and cheaper solution would be to remodel or build an extension onto your home to accommodate their needs.

Or Aunt Sue—that favorite aunt from Wyoming—announces that she’d really like to visit for a while this summer, only you know she uses a walker and you’re not quite sure how she’ll manage in your home.

So what now? How’s your house going to work? Can you rely on the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) Standards For Accessible Design to tell you everything you need to know about handicapped access?

Carol Stover found out the truth first-hand when her life, as she says, “flip-flopped.” She was badly injured in an auto accident and the dedicated registered nurse became a patient. Her husband, Dan, was very familiar with ADA standards as a general contractor, so they didn’t anticipate any difficulty with adapting their home for her long rehabilitation. But it wasn’t quite so easy, and as Carol progressed from wheelchair to walker to crutches to cane, they found out more and more about what ADA standards didn’t cover—little things that were extremely important to Carol’s recovery.

It occurred to them that they were relatively lucky. Dan has the know how to engineer adjustments, and Carol, as a nurse, knows how to anticipate changing needs as recovery or debilitation progresses. They saw the need for a service to recommend a customized approach to accessibility challenges.

“The (ADA) code is needed, and it does a great job, but we’re taking it one step further and personalizing it,” said Dan. “If you’re a big strong guy, confined to a wheelchair, then your needs, your reach and capability, are going to be a lot different than if you are an elderly lady.”

The Stovers’ new company, MEDAccess, Inc., offers four different types of onsite assessment. The most basic offers a walk-through consultation for people expecting a physically challenged visitor, those who need a professional opinion before buying a home or those who are preparing for disabling surgery. Add a written evaluation for a little extra; the next level of service adds modification specifications for contractors’ use, and the fourth level adds a functionality option. In some cases insurance may help to cover the cost, and the Stovers can also suggest organizations to help with expenses. The regional service is available to homeowners and tenants, healthcare providers, real estate agents with special-needs clients, and businesses that must conform to ADA standards. Contrary to public opinion, businesses cannot be “grandfathered in” where ADA standards of accessibility are concerned.

“Whether you have an accident or surgery, or you’re aging, you lose some of your freedom to do what you like to do,” said Carol. “If you really like to garden, for instance, but that’s taken away from you, then your stress level rises. That can even impair your ability to heal. But if you can make sure that a deck with raised planters is accessible, then you’re going to adapt more easily.”

Part of their job is to identify potential problems that the homeowner might not recognize because of long familiarity with a house. Dan tells the story of an elderly man who suffered a stroke. When he was released from the hospital, his wife was confident that she could manage to get his wheelchair down the long, level path to their door, and a ramp would take care of the rest. But they were so used to the house that they’d forgotten the three-inch step part way, and he had to stay parked out in the sun for three hours before someone came to help.

Sometimes the company might consult with a physical therapist. In one case, the homeowner thought she would need a ramp, but the therapist preferred her to use the stairs as an important part of therapy.

MEDAccess Inc. does not offer construction services, preferring clients to know that the company has no ulterior motives in recommending modifications, although they are always happy to talk contractors through the changes they recommend. They will, however, soon start to offer clients hard-to-find products such as a modular ramp that can be easily fitted and adjusted. At some point they may begin a referral list of contractors.

Knowing what’s coming—such as the fact that Aunt Sue is going to find it impossible to maneuver a walker on a gravel driveway—and finding a way to fix the problem can be a huge help. “Sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest difference,” said Carol.

Call MEDAccess, Inc. Toll-Free: 877-264-4085 or click here.