ASP Redux

A year ago my eldest son Jack asked me to be an adult leader on an Appalachian Service Project (ASP) that he was attending. From the volunteer stand-point, ASP offers families or groups the opportunity to travel to various Appalachian counties and help folks in dire need to make their homes "safer, warmer, or dryer".  I wrote about my experience last year here.

Jack and I had such powerful experiences that we opted to go again this year, and this time my wife joined us.  None of us were in the same groups, but we were able to take breakfast, dinner, and evening leisure together.  Again, we had a tremendous experience.

This year our project was to create a porch for a designated family. As sometimes occurs, my assumptions clouded my thinking early on. I thought to myself, "how does a porch create 'safer, warmer, dryer'?"  Upon arrival though I quickly realized the significance of a porch and stairs for this family.

"Our" family lives in a mobile home. The home has two entrances. The front door is about 3-1/2 feet off the ground. The stairs are very narrow, more than a bit rickety, and offer no hand railings. The mother indicated she's fallen off the stairs several times, as has their two year old daughter. The back door, also about 3-1/2 feet off the ground has no stairs at all. Too high for all but physically fit and adventurous adults to jump down from.  So, really all they have to get in and out of the home is the front door.

Adding to the challenges are the facts that 1, the mother is legally blind (no vision at all in one eye, and significantly impaired in the other), and 2, she is expecting another child in January.  With this added information, it was evident that a porch with stairs was s a safety issue!

Like last year, my crew of young adults was hardworking, smart, funny, caring.  Add all the other adjectives that paint a picture of young people who make you breath a sigh of relief regarding the world's future. In addition, my co-leader was also fabulous, and fun to work with.

As an Occupational Therapist I assess ways to help individuals engage in meaningful occupations.  Sometimes interventions are geared towards physical rehabilitation.  As an Assistive Technology Professional, sometimes the interventions are technologically oriented.  And, still other times, the interventions include environmental changes. This situation definitely called for an environmental change!

Consider that we have a mother who is

visually impaired and has to walk up and down harrowing stairs every time she chooses to go outdoors. This impacts her ability to play with her daughter outdoors.  If she gets hurt on the stairs with her child while her husband is at work, they could be in a lot of trouble. So inevitably they spent a lot of time indoors.  As a stay-at-home mom, that's pretty tough! Safe stairs increase the quality and quantity of Occupations the family is able to participate in.

The stairs we built are sturdy, and very safe. There are not a lot of perfect 90 degree angles, and the porch will never be in an Architecture digest.  It is more likely that it would appear in the MoMA!  But forgetting the angle issue, IMHO, the stairs are really quite lovely.

Our crew came back on our last day to say good-byes with the family.  We walked around the back of the home and found them hanging out on the porch, enjoying the outdoors.  For the first time we met our "mother's" grandmother. She was so delighted with the stairs and hand railing. She told me, for the first time ever she was able to enter their home. Because of her health issues she had been unable to climb the front stairs without railings.

Once again, ASP delivered for our group of students and leaders, and also for the families we were serving. If you ever have the opportunity to participate, run, don't walk to sign up!  Later in the summer, another lucky group of volunteers will build new stairs for the front door as well. Maybe that could be you!

Peace, Jim