Published: September 05, 2008 07:41 pm         

Group ramps up efforts to help the disabled

THE GOSHEN NEWS

LAGRANGE, Ind. — The LaGrange County Council on Aging was recognized for making its community more “elder friendly” with its wheelchair ramp program.

The recognition came Wednesday during a meeting of Aging and In Home Services of Northeastern Indiana at Parkview Noble Hospital in Kendallville.

The meeting was hosted by Mayor Suzanne Handshoe of Kendallville and co-hosted by Dian McCormick, president of Aging and In Home Services of Northeastern Indiana.

McCormick cited the LaGrange County Council on Aging as an example of what can be done to make a community more elder friendly.

Aging in Place Committee chairman David Clark told the group that “the LaGrange County Council on Aging is still working on securing additional funding for its wheelchair ramp projects. Currently, the COA has two additional clients waiting for ramps to be installed so they can get in to their home.”

Recently, a wheel chair ramp that was donated to the Council on Aging was installed at a client’s home. This is the third time the same ramp has been used for different clients and it clearly demonstrates the need for ramps, COA officials said.

Last year, the LaGrange County Council on Aging established the Aging in Place committee.

The first project of the Aging in Place committee was to establish a wheel chair ramp program. The goal of the program is to build modular wheel chair ramps and loan them to individuals (of any age) who have a mobility problem of getting into or out of their home.

Clark said that “not only are wheelchair ramps important for individuals to get in to their own home, but they also are important so that guests with mobility problems can visit a friend or relative.”

Clark is a member of the board of directors of the LaGrange County Council on Aging and is a builder who is a certified “aging in place” specialist.