By the time Bruce Coleman was discovered on the floor of his basement suite bathroom in November, 2014, he was suffering from kidney failure and nerve damage. But lucky to be alive.
He had suffered a seizure and doctors estimated he had been on the ground for around five to seven days prior to being discovered by his sister.
Coleman spent three months in the hospital before being able to head home again and it took him a full year before he was able to set foot outside his house.
He used a walker at first and then a cane but four years later he was still only able to wander a couple of blocks from his house.
“On a good day I can go three blocks, which is, I live quite close to ValleyFair Mall,” said Coleman. But he can’t do much shopping because he can only carry a single, light bag.
“This is the first time that I really actually got out past the boundaries,” said Coleman sitting on a shiny, blue scooter in the middle of Memorial Peace Park.
Kelly Jorgenson was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that occurs when the bones of the spine don’t form properly around part of the spinal chord.
At 53 Jorgenson’s mobility has deteriorated with age. After multiple surgeries she has gone from being able to walk with crutches to using any mobility aid you can think of depending on the situation. Jorgenson was also able to drive but owning a car wasn’t feasible for the Maple Ridge resident.
“The cost of the insurance, the repairs, it just was not feasible any longer,” explained Jorgenson.
“I felt it was best to try to find another mobility source that was safer for me,” she said.
As fortune would have it Coleman and Jorgenson had one thing in common. They were friends with a man named Bruce Steeves.
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A red four-wheel electric scooter stands upright on a two-inch wooden platform under a white tarp in Brett Steeves backyard. The battery cover lies to one side of the electric mobility aid, sitting right in front of the cushioned seat, which has also been removed. A light dusting of sawdust coats the Shoprider’s shiny paint and what looks to be a brand new woven-basket hangs on the front.
This is Bruce’s brother’s latest acquirement.
“It is virtually a brand new chair. The recipient of this chair only had the chair for three weeks and unfortunately passed away,” said Steeves as he bends over the new batteries he is installing in the back of the vehicle.
The chair, he said, was put by family members in their woodworking shop where it sat for three years before they decided it was time to let it go. And because the shop was not heated the batteries froze, which appears to be the only thing that needs fixing.
Once Steeves has cleaned the electric scooter up, installed the new batteries and is satisfied it is good to go, he will call in a certified mechanic to go over it and make sure that it’s road worthy.
“We won’t give somebody a chair that hasn’t gone through all of the check points. We want to make sure everybody’s safe,” said Steeves
For three years now Brett Steeves and his partner Paul Wood have been giving away refurbished electric wheelchairs and scooters to people in need. They are currently working on chairs number 64 and 65.
“We’re very proud of that,” said Steeves.
Wood and Steeves have known each other for many years. They opened up the Hammond Compassion Society together by Hammond Mill and Haney Hawgs on Maple Crescent, six years ago. Their compassion has also compelled Wood and Steeves to give cancer patients free medicinal marijuana through the society.
They got the idea of fixing up wheelchairs and scooters while searching for an electric mobility device for Steeves’ brother Bruce who was crippled after a fall in a workplace accident. He had been using a manual wheelchair but got carpal tunnel syndrome.
“Most people when they are wheeling around in a wheelchair for any extent of time when they are ill will get carpal tunnel in their wrists. From pushing,” explained Steeves.
“When people are sick like that they can’t heal when they are pushing themselves around. Good weather, bad weather, it just takes its toll on the body,” he said.
As they were searching they realized how costly these mobility aids are.
“They are very expensive, they are also very expensive to fix,” said Steeves.
“If you are someone on low income and you are fortunate enough to have a scooter or get a scooter, if they break down we are talking thousands of dollars, in some cases, to fix them,” he said.
Their first project became Bruce’s wheelchair. Then the pair decided they wanted to fix up more electric mobility aids for people who need them in the community.
Wood and Steeves put out the word to their supporters online and through their personal social circles and have had chairs donated to them, some with a retail value of $25,000.
“The dynamic that I find fascinating is the person that gives the chair away. For the most part these are people who have had the chair for two of three years and their loved one has passed away and in giving the chair away it’s a process of healing,” said Steeves.
“Then there is the person who receives the chair,” he added.
“I have walked away so many times after donating a chair to someone, I have walked away in tears but they are tears of joy,” Steeves said.
It can take around 90 days to turn a chair or scooter around depending on how much work it needs. Not every chair is broken. Sometimes they just need to be cleaned up, sometimes the seat just has to be realigned or the new batteries put in. The biggest challenge is getting the parts. Right now they have a waiting list of five people.
“You’ve got to get the parts and batteries and you’ve got to order these things and then you need to consult with mechanics out there who work on these things and you need to consult with them so you are doing the right thing by the chair,” Steeves explained.
Steeves finds it hard sometimes to find words to describe how fulfilling this project is to both of them.
“There’s nothing like it. To watch somebody, their life improve exponentially because they have a scooter to get around,” he said adding that the process can be daunting for a disabled person in the community to get to a doctor’s appointment on a fixed income when they suddenly find themselves with a broken fare and no money for cab fare.
“Just to get to a doctor’s appointment in this community and you are on a fixed income and you’ve got a broken chair and you don’t even have money for cab fare,” said Steeves he process can be daunting.
“Now we’ve got somebody who has missed a doctor’s appointment and their quality of life has been affected as a result,” said Steeves.
Steeves said it’s healing for the donors of the chairs too.
“When they donate a chair is they are letting go, they’re healing. And it’s not easy for them to let go. They made a conscious decision, they’ve walked by the chair so many times in their own home and the time has come for them to pass it on,” he said.
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Steeves and Wood presented their latest mobility aids to Coleman and Jorgenson at Memorial Peace Park recently, who were both overwhelmed by their generosity.
“I could never afford it,” said Coleman, adding that having the electric scooter means freedom.
“This is independence,” he said.
“It’s not a luxury for someone in my position or for someone who is disabled, it’s a necessity,” said Jorgenson about her new electric mobility aid.
“When you’re an adult, you want to do things for yourself and you don’t want to burden other people,” she said.
“You want to be self supporting for your own sense of dignity and self respect,” she added.
Bruce Steeves explained how limited his life was before his electric scooter.
“I couldn’t go from my house to the hospital in my manual chair,” he said. Now he is able to get there and back without depending on other people or cabs.
“It just gives me so much more freedom. I can get around all of the Maple Ridge now. I just love to get out and talk to people. I get out there and meet a lot more people,” said Bruce.
Steeves says he has to make sure he doesn’t cry all the time when giving the vehicles away.
“When you watch somebody drive away on their scooter and you’ve literally changed their lives it’s an amazing thing to watch.”
To donate or be eligible for a chair contact Wood or Steeves at the Hammond Compassion Society at 778-681-5433.
Fraser Health Central Intake also has a program and they can be contacted at 1-855-412-2121.
