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In September, 2008, we transferred ownership of the house to the Northcentral Technical College. This is a significant change for Chairs & Cares because it relieves us from having to raise funds for maintenance and care of the house and frees us to focus on raising funds to provide new items for display at the house and promote the house.
The Chairs & Cares Spinal Cord Injury Support Group was formed in 2001. Cofounders were Wayne Geurink and Paul Wiegert. Crystal Lambrect, a NTC Student, was also involved and she suggested the name. We identified and invited other potential members and we began having monthly meetings at Aspirus Hospital in Wausau, WI for the following purpose.
Our personal experiences, reinforced by discussion with other Chairs & Cares members, got me thinking about residential accessibility. When person is severely injured one of the major limitations is the ability to live independently. A major obstacle to independence is lack of a home that facilitates the needs of the disabled individual and his or her family. As I thought about this I visualized a model, or demonstration, accessible home that could be used by everyone in the community:
I initially shared my vision with Paul Wiegert and Crystal Lambrecht. Both agreed that the idea had value. Then I described it to the rest of the Chairs & Cares group. They also agreed. I talked to local builder Chuck Ghidorzi and he suggested talking to someone at NTC. I talked to Marathon County Board member Marv Anderson who suggested talking to Joe Mielczarek at NTC. I met with Joe and he liked the idea well enough to suggest that NTC might help an effort to build it. The NTC board agreed. With that encouragement, Paul, Joe, and I took on a project to build a model home in Wausau for display purposes and for use as a teaching laboratory for NTC students and local contractors. Later, Roger Plamann, architectural design instructor at NTC was assigned to our team and he joined with enthusiasm.
Paul Wiegert and I formed a charitable nonprofit corporation named Chairs & Cares Model Accessible House, Inc. and Pat Peckham joined with us on our first board of directors. With help from Joe Mielczarek we formed an advisory board that included people with experience in all phases of disability housing and related issues. Over time we expanded our board of directors to the group pictured below (July 7, 2008).
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Here's a link to a document listing our current Board of Directors & original Advisory Board
With input from the advisory board Roger Plamann developed a basic design for the house. Several modifications were made during subsequent meetings resulting in the final floor plan. This links to an interactive version of the final floor plans for the First Floor and Second Floor. Keller Inc volunteered to be our general contractor and we broke ground in September, 2006. The house was completed and our grand opening was on October 28, 2007.
Beneficiaries
This demonstration model accessible house benefits the community in multiple ways. It is a place where visitors can see home related accessible items and get take-home information about everrything in the house. Beneficiaries will be local disabled and elderly people with inabilities, disabled veterans, their families, care givers, doctors, medical rehab specialists, social workers, insurance rehab specialists, builders and contractors, attorneys, and NTC students (medical program, residential design, architecture, electrical, mechanical).
LINKS ABOUT US
501c3 Acceptance Letter
Accessible Home Use
Abstract
Brochure
Board of Directors & Advisory Board
Chairs & Cares Project Summary
Construction Photo Gallery
Ground Breaking
Letters of Support
Make a Contribution - Pledge Form
Wisconsin Disability Data
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