Rehab Medical Inc. is working with faith-based non-profit group Servants at Work (SAWs) to install a wheelchair ramp for the organization’s 3,000th ramp recipient.
SAWs has been constructing wheelchair ramps to help low-income, permanently disabled individuals access their homes for 18 years. The 3000th recipient is a native Indiana resident name Dorothy, who suffers from severe medical conditions that limit her mobility.
Due to her ongoing struggles to complete daily tasks and her inability to visit the doctor for routine medical care, SAWs and Rehab Medical teamed up to build her a wheelchair ramp so that she can get in and out of the home where she resides with her sister and primary caretaker, Betty.
“I am just looking forward to finally being able to go to the doctor,” Dorothy said.
Dorothy will receive her wheelchair ramp on Aug. 14. Because the installation represents a milestone for SAWs, it has become an event that will open with an honorary speech from SAWs for all those who have helped them achieve this milestone, followed by a celebratory lunch and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“In 2003, the first ramp we built kept a 15-year-old girl from being removed from her family home because there was no way for her to escape a fire,” said SAWs founder Rik Hagarty. “Every single one of the 3,000 ramps we have built since then have similar stories. We have given freedom back to thousands of people who had been prisoners for weeks, months, even years. In reality, we don’t build wheelchair ramps, we change people’s lives for the better. Dorothy is next.”
In conjunction with Dorothy’s ramp, SAWs has been pushing to reach a $30,000 donation threshold. As of the end of July, it has raised more than $20,000 in donations towards its goal. To help SAWs reach that level, Rehab Medical donated $5,500 toward the initiative and will commit another $2,000 once the campaign hits the $25,000 mark.
Those wishing to donate may do so at servantsatwork.salsalabs.org/3000thrampform/index.html.
