Fairbanks Channel 11 MS Series - Part 2
Marty Hintz, Fairbanks MS Support Group Member.
Fairbanks - Channel 11 MS Story
Video here.
Kris is an active member of the MS Support Group in Fairbanks.
News Miner 3/28/08
RETIRING: After 21 years at Access Alaska, David Jacobson has retired as regional director. Jim Kreatschman is taking over that position and Valerie Enterline is stepping in as core services supervisor, the post Kreatschman has held since 2004.
From Dermot Cole.
Parking space enforcement could expand
By RINDI WHITE
rwhite@adn.com
rwhite@adn.com
(Published: November 15, 2007)
PALMER — Mary Kvalheim wants you to help stop the abuse of parking spaces for the handicapped in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Kvalheim, a borough assemblywoman, proposed a law that would give everyone the power to file a complaint whenever they see a vehicle inappropriately parked in a spot that bears the familiar blue, reserved-parking sign. The system would work much the same way complaints about fireworks or incessantly barking dogs are handled, borough attorney Nick Spiropoulos said Wednesday.
It would be in effect everywhere in the borough except within the city limits of Palmer, Wasilla and Houston. The cities have their own enforcement programs.
Anyone could file a complaint, so long as they’re willing to testify to it in court, he said.
The borough Assembly scheduled a public hearing for 7 p.m. Tuesday on Kvalheim’s proposal.
Robert Guertin, chief borough code compliance officer, said the proposed law levies a $125 fine for a first offense and $250 for a second offense. However, Guertin said his officers would issue only a warning to first-time offenders.
Anyone issued a citation could either pay the fine or contest the complaint in court.
Kvalheim said watching people park in spaces that are designated for disabled people drives her nuts. She has a parking sticker of her own for medical reasons, she said, but she’s championed this issue for decades.
“It’s always been a bone of contention with me because of my husband being handicapped,” she said.
Her husband, Ray, started using a wheelchair after his back was broken , Kvalheim said. He died in 1994.
Kvalheim said she and her husband were told that they should move out of Alaska, where “conditions weren’t made for handicapped people.”
They stayed in Wasilla. But along with forcing a wheelchair through snowy parking lots, Kvalheim said, they found maddening the abuse of parking spaces for the handicapped.
In the late 1980s she asked then-Sen. Jalmar Kerttula, D-Mat-Su, to pass a statewide bill addressing the unauthorized use of parking reserved for people with disabilities. The bill passed, although with no promise of enforcement.
But state law allows municipalities to enforce the law on their own, Spiropoulos said. That’s what Kvalheim’s measure would do.
Right now, Wasilla is on the leading edge of enforcement when it comes to parking laws. Wasilla code compliance officer Mike Rager has turned the abuse of disability parking space into a crusade. Rager, who has held his position at the city for two years, spends more than half of his time enforcing the city’s parking laws for the handicapped.
He works on it between other code enforcement duties, like checking to see that businesses keep their trash containers closed and that signs aren’t too close to city roads, he said.
“It takes up a lot of time, partially by choice, but it gets applauded by businesses and folks in the community,” Rager said.
Marguerite Goodman sings Rager’s praises. She is an independent living specialist at Access Alaska, a nonprofit aimed at helping disabled Alaskans live independently.
When people park in the reserved spot near their front door, she said, she often calls him.
“He’s our guy,” Goodman said.
Goodman said she thinks expanding the law across the borough is a good move. Enforcement is a common problem, she said.
“It’s obvious, when you go to the store or the shopping center (people think) 'Oh, if they leave the car running it’s OK.’ No, it’s not,” Goodman said. “It really strikes a chord for a lot of us.”
Guertin said he doesn’t envision borough code compliance officers spending as much time on parking enforcement as Rager does if the law passes.
They won’t patrol parking lots, he said, although if they happen to see someone misusing a spot, they could write them up.
If it passes, the borough law would rely mostly on residents to report violators, he said.
“The person who’s doing the complaining is going to have to fill out a complaint form,” Guertin said. “We need the public to be sharing this information with us.”
Find Daily News reporter Rindi White online at www.adn.com/contact/rwhite or call 352-6709.
Article here.
Access Alaska holds First Friday event
(October 4, 2007) This month Access Alaska will be joining art galleries across town as it holds its first ever, First Friday event. At this show, the photos are hung at wheel chair level, as Access Alaska celebrates work by photojournalist Tom Olin and those who took a stand during the Disability Rights Movement.
"People put their lives on the line to make change, and they were successful," said Doug Toelle, development director for Access Alaska.
The show features perhaps one of the most extensive collections of disability rights photographs in the country.
"Most of the pictures have to do with transportation because transportation is kind of a basic right. You can't get out of your house if you can't get down the street, if you can't get onto a bus. You can't get to work, you can't go shopping, you can't get to the doctor," explained Toelle.
Toelle says he hopes people can see the commitment the disability rights activists had, and appreciate their efforts. "The more that we make America more equal to people with disabilities the more people with disabilities will be contributing to society," he said.
The First Friday event starts at 5 pm and ends at 8 pm.
Watch it here.
D.A.R.T. ALASKA - Milwaukees Protocol Being Tested in the Last Frontier
"When Christine King, from the Center for Human Development at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, asked me to train the State of Alaska on the D.A.R.T. (Disability Abuse Response Team) Protocol, I jumped at the chance. When they asked that I do it right away and wanted the trainings to take place in January, all I could say was BURRRRR! So I packed my long underwear, parka and gloves and set out for the Last Frontier."
More in the IndependenceFirst Newsletter
Brain trauma, the hidden injury - Fairbanks Channel 11
Aired March 20, 2007.
"At Access Alaska on the first and third Monday of each month you can hear some remarkable stories.
"I had a massive brain hemorrhage in the form of an a–v–m or a malformation."
"A truck going 65 mph ran a red light and I was walking. I was run over."
"I wasn't wearing my seat belt. So I managed to squeeze out of the front seat and I managed to annihilate the center council between the two seats."
However here at the traumatic brain injury or TBI support group these men and their families share ways to cope with daily challenges.
"
Transcript available here.
Coping with MS - Fairbanks Channel 11
Two hundred families struggle to deal with multiple sclerosis
By Dermot Cole
Staff Writer
Published March 10, 2007
Staff Writer
Published March 10, 2007
MS AWARENESS: Seven years ago, Doug Toelle was hauling supplies by snowmachine in the Brooks Range when some of the machines got stuck in overflow at 20 below.
As the group struggled to get the sleds out of the ice, he suddenly found that he was frozen and not because of the cold.
“My body shut down and wouldn’t move,” Toelle said in a recent letter to the Fairbanks City Council. “Tim Woller almost ran over me as I tried to get an uncooperative body to behave and react. I realized something was really, really wrong.”
Not long after that harrowing experience, Toelle was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the beginning of a struggle of a different kind.
The council approved a resolution designating this past week as Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week. According to one estimate, about 200 people in the Fairbanks area have MS, a chronic and disabling disease of the central nervous system.
It strikes people in different ways, with symptoms that range from mild to severe. The disease can “erode a person’s abilities and hopes, halt a career and unravel the fabric of families,” yet there is research that holds promise, the council resolution said.
Some people are homebound with the illness, while others have a tough time getting around. Toelle said he can walk, but “every step requires thought and planning” because the disease inhibits the communication that takes place between his brain and his muscles.
“My primary symptoms are fatigue, lack of balance, limited mobility and pain,” he said.
Toelle, 50, has been a successful entrepreneur and consultant in information technology for two decades. He helped launch the first Internet Service Provider in Fairbanks, Polarnet, and has been involved in numerous other enterprises.
He said that he no longer has the energy it takes to run his own business, but he is grateful for the opportunity to help aging and disabled Alaskans as the new development director for Access Alaska.
The agency provides services to people with MS and other disabilities, with the goal of helping them continue to lead productive lives.
Toelle said that those who want to know more about Access Alaska can go to www.accessalaska.org or drop by the office in what once was the deli section of Foodland at 526 Gaffney.
Those who are dealing with MS are invited to attend the MS Support Group, which meets on the second Wednesday of the month from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Access Alaska.
From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Finding accommodations for Alaska's disabled
By Matt Nordin, CBS 11 News Reporter
February 28, 2007
February 28, 2007
For Alaska's disabled, finding a home that can accommodate a wheelchair can be incredibly difficult. The CBS 11 News I-Team found out just how hard it is.
There's a saying in the disabled community that it's an equal opportunity minority group. No matter how much education we have or what economic class we belong to, we're all just an accident away from needing assistance getting around. That can also mean needing to find a new home.
Miranda Monet struggles to navigate her apartment in Soldotna, now that she's in a wheelchair.
"Well, I have to sleep on the couch. And on the days that I'm in a wheelchair, I have to crawl to the bathroom. I mean that's kinda disgusting, you know? When you can't, when you hurt," said Monet.
Her apartment is bare. Monet is moving to a new place where, she says, the landlord is willing to help her out by installing a rail, so that she can get in and out of her wheelchair.
But finding a new apartment took about two months. It can be extremely difficult for the disabled in Alaska to find accessible housing.
What would they say when you talked to them?
"Waiting list two to five years. Or, 'We only have two apartments that's handicap accessible.' Or, 'Um, we have a deposit, an application fee,'" said Monet.
She couldn't afford it, and at times, was also turned down by landlords for bad credit. This is not unusual, according to Jim Beck, who helps run the advocacy group, Access Alaska in Anchorage.
The law allows a disabled person to modify an apartment so that it's handicap-accessible. But the tenant has to pay for it.
"And unfortunately, folks with disabilities are frequently living below the poverty level, so often don't have the funding they need to make those changes. Although, organizations like Access Alaska do quite a bit of home modifications to provide assistance with that, when possible." said Beck.
You and your family may not be in Monet's situation now. But as the baby boomer generation gets older, some housing basics are likely to become a huge issue. According to Access Alaska, there's a debate about whether new laws are needed to force contractors to build differently and include features that are essential as the homeowner ages.
"Ground-level entrances, wide enough doorways for wheelchairs to move through, sometimes studs behind the walls in a certain place so that grab bars can be mounted later on. Things like that," said Beck.
As for Monet, she enjoyed a last cup of coffee before leaving her apartment behind. Thanks to the kindness of her new landlord, she's getting back some of her freedom.
The folks at Access Alaska get state and federal grants to help people make changes to their homes, so they can live independently.
Access Alaska-Anchorage
121 W. Fireweed Lane
Suite 105
Anchorage, AK 99503
907-248-4777
www.accessalaska.org
Full story here.
Winter 2007 Radio Ad
Access Alaska.
A community in Alaska where understanding
…acceptance…respect…are a way of life.
Where the spirit of independence is vibrant and real.
A community governed for - and by - the
Alaskans who live here.
Access Alaska. We open doors to independence for Seniors, families and Alaskans with disabilities.
AccessAlaska dot org.
Access Alaska sets up shop in part of old Foodland building
MOVING: Access Alaska is moving into the former home of what once was the Foodland deli and health food section off Gaffney Road.
The agency has been in the Caribou Building on Airport Way for 22 years, providing services to people with disabilities. Director David Jacobson says the new site in what was the annex to the old grocery store contains 1 1/2 times the space of the old quarters.
The Bachner Companies own the complex, which has been unoccupied since the Alaska Marketplace closed six years ago. The search for tenants for the main circular building continues.
More here...
