(CMT in Texas) Group ramps up help Nonprofit provides installations for free

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Group ramps up help

Nonprofit provides installations for free

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2010-12-29/group-ramps-help

By Madelyn Bankhead-Vieth

As Sierra Villarreal wheeled her electronic wheelchair into her house, she

sometimes yelled out in fear as she attempted to maneuver the unstable makeshift

ramp, a portable car ramp.

" It was scary, " said 13-year-old Sierra, who has a progressive neurological

disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth, or CMT.

Sierra doesn't have to be scared of getting in and out of her house without help

anymore. She was referred by a state caseworker to The Texas Ramp Project, a

nonprofit organization that builds and installs ramps for people with

disabilities for free.

" It's largely an undocumented need because people don't know where the solution

is, " said Laine, executive director of the 6-year-old Dallas-based

organization. " If you don't have someone disabled in your family you think,

'well surely some part of government is providing ramps for people.' "

People with disabilities are rarely given ramps to safely enter and exit their

home from agencies such as Medicare, said , director of Area

Agency on Aging in Amarillo.

" Unfortunately it's a need that the general public doesn't think about, "

said. " Most people have the assumption that Medicare is going to pay for that.

They may pay for the wheelchair or walker, but they don't pay for the

transition. "

Area Agency on Aging has partnered with The Texas Ramp Project since the

Amarillo branch was established. The agency pays about $400 to $500 per ramp,

money that goes toward building costs, said.

Ramps can cost thousands of dollars and are usually constructed of wood,

aluminum or concrete. But The Texas Ramp Project has received grant funding from

organizations such as the E. Bivins Foundation.

Project volunteers, mostly members of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, have

built more than 35 ramps in the Panhandle, 28 of which have been in Amarillo,

Laine said.

The organization has had about 100 referrals in the Panhandle since an

Amarillo-area charter was established in 2008.

" We try to build the most urgently needed ramps first, " Laine said. " The level

of urgency comes from a combination of factors; information on the referral ...

and what we discover at the time of survey, " Laine said.

About three-fourths of the ramps built by the project are for the elderly, Laine

said.

The need is expected to increase significantly in the coming years as the baby

boomer generation ages, said.

" We're projecting ... an increase of 2 percent each year of the 60 and over

population, " she said. " And of course, the faster growing population is

85-plus. "

The Area Agency on Aging estimates by 2025 there will be almost 9,000 people

older than 85 in the Texas Panhandle.

" Unfortunately we all know the older we get the more likely we are to have some

kind of debilitating disease or accident which would require some transition for

getting in and out of the house, " said.

But volunteers have built many ramps for people who are younger, said Greg

Hinders, Texas Ramp Project Panhandle coordinator and member of Beautiful Savior

Lutheran.

In November, the project built a ramp for a man in a wheelchair who was 28 years

old, he said.

Hinders said he receives about three or four referrals a month.

Almost 16,000 people in Potter County have some kind of a disability, according

to Texas State Data Center statistics. More than 10,000 in that number have a

disability that restricts leg movement.

Disability numbers in the state of Texas also are expected to increase by almost

60,000 by the end of 2011, according to state statistics.

Before her ramp was installed, Sierra, a student at Bowie Middle School, had to

have her mother, Villarreal, and younger brother, 11-year-old Isaiah

Villarreal, support her on either side as she went up or down the small portable

car ramp.

" Now I can actually go in and out if I want without having to ask someone for

help, " Sierra said.

Villarreal used to worry her young daughter would be trapped in the home

and unable to escape if there was an emergency such as a house fire. Her fears

have subsided since the ramp installation, she said.

" This was a total blessing, " Villarreal said. " Beyond what we ever expected or

could've asked for. "