Recently I got a call from a gentleman who was in a near panic.

His elderly mother had broken her hip a while back. She went into a nursing home for a while for rehabilitation, and was due to be released soon. He had volunteered that she could move in with him and his family so she could avoid being permanently institutionalized.

He didn't know what to do. His home wasn't designed with accessibility in mind, so he reached out to Options looking for help.

When a person acquires a disability, or takes over care for someone with a disability, life can become pretty intimidating. They may ask themselves questions like: how will I get to work, will I be able to bathe without assistance, is there any equipment out there that can help me stay out of a nursing home?

At Options we hear these concerns all the time, and we are here to help.

One way that we can help is through our “loan closet.”

The loan closet is a collection of equipment that people with disabilities can borrow to help them deal with their disabilities. We have things like walkers, wheelchairs, portable ramps, canes and bath transfer benches.

Items from the loan closet are lent out for as long as there is a need. There are no limits on eligibility. The loan closet is here to help anyone with a disability on a first come, first served basis. We stock the closet largely with items donated to us by families that no longer need accessibility equipment.

The gentleman I was talking about was greatly relieved that such a resource was available to him. We talked about things that he would need for his mother in the house, including a shower chair and a portable ramp for their front stairs.

We had the items he needed on hand, and I told him that he could pick them up the next day at our office. Then I asked a follow-up question: Do you think that your mother will be using a wheelchair, to some degree or another, for the rest of her life?

The answer was “yes.”

She had started needing a wheelchair before her fall, and the recent injury has only increased the need.

Sometimes the loan closet request is just a foot in the door toward getting the services that will make a long-term difference in a person's life.

In this case, I was able to give a family an application for one of our home access modification programs. In other cases we can introduce people to our peer advocacy services that help them navigate applications for programs like VESID.

This is the most rewarding part of my job at Options.

It is wonderful to be able to reach out to a person and show them how they can reclaim their independence and preserve their personal dignity.

We all deserve to live like that.

Collin M. Sullivan is the ADA/Access Advocate for Options for Independence. He can be reached at 255-3447.