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Incline ramps up woman's mobility |
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Wednesday, 25 July 2007 |
 Tina Barnard hold her son, Noah, on the back porch of her family?s home. (Staff photo/ Karen Campbell)
Ford crew assists local family
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Staff Writer
Eighteen years ago after an accident left her wheelchair bound, a Wapakoneta woman never thought she’d see her dreams of raising a family come true.
After spending more than three months in a coma and suffering a bad head injury when she was 19, Tina Barnard now 37, is able to walk with some assistance, and is happily married with an 18-month-old son.
Still, after moving into a house on Blackhoof Street a year ago, Barnard wanted to be able to get outside and spend time with her son, Noah, as he runs through their fenced in back yard and plays on a new wooden swing set.
An anonymous call from someone who saw the family’s need, put Barnard’s name on a waiting list for a ramp to be built by a crew from Lima. The team of volunteers comprised of UAW (United Auto Workers) Local 1219 representatives and retirees from the Lima Ford Engine Plant built a ramp completed in a few hours.
The wheelchair ramp crew has constructed approximately 400 ramps since it was started 17 years ago by past President Dick Ward.
This year, the approximate 25 volunteers plan to construct about 35 ramps in the greater Allen County area.
There’s a waiting list for the ramps, with one completed each week. Referrals are made by hospitals, senior agencies and by word-of-mouth.
Crouse Lumber of Lima provides materials at cost and AVI Food Systems provide snacks. The UAW and Ford come together to cover the cost of materials when the families can’t afford them.
“It all started with one person needing a ramp and some guys hearing about it and getting together to build it,” Ford’s Kathy Ciminillo said. “Through word of mouth it just grew and grew. They’ve got it down to a science now.”
The all-weather treated wooden ramp the volunteers erected in Wapakoneta did not cost the Barnard family, and it provides Tina Barnard access to the back yard she didn’t have before unless someone else was there to help her.
Now she and Noah can go outside by themselves and play — using the ramp’s rails as guides — without trying to maneuver steep concrete steps.
“It gives me a lot more time to be with my son,” Barnard said. “It was the only thing missing for me to do that in the backyard.”
Tina and her husband, Brian Barnard, contemplated where they thought the ramp should be built. Many people have them leading from their front doors, but there was nowhere for Tina Barnard to go once she got outside there.
Someone would always be with her if she was leaving the house and could help her navigate the garage stairs, but without a ramp, she had no way to get into the back yard.
“All you ever hear about is the bad stuff,” said Tina’s mom, Cheryl Thuman. “We wanted people to know what they did. We wanted to publicly thank them for how they helped. Now my daughter can take Noah outside safely to play.
“When they called and said they wanted to build a ramp for her, we just couldn’t believe it,” she said. “We really wish we could thank everyone involved.”
Thuman said the gift meant even more because it came from men who had worked where her father did from the time the plant came to Lima.
Richard Walker retired from Ford and died just six months after Tina’s accident, never getting to see the recovery she made.
“This ramp makes her life easier,” Thuman said, as she blessed those who share their time and skills with people in need.
Kevin Bourk, who coordinates the ramp projects, said there’s no bigger reward than seeing someone able to use the ramp once it’s done to gain some of their freedom back and get out of the house.
“We’ve built them for all ages, for people in all different scenarios,” Bourk said, “but every phone call starts with, ‘I need this ramp.’”
Ciminillo said for those constructing the ramps, it’s just the “right thing to do.”
“We’ve received hundreds of thank you notes over the years,” Ciminillo said. “That’s what keeps them going, feeling that they are truly impacting individuals. It’s such an important thing to do. No one does it for the recognition, but it is nice to be appreciated. They just want to do it to help.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 July 2007 )
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