Lane County expands access to parks, natural areas with Mobi-mats, David’s Chair

Presenter: During public comment Dec. 10, commissioners heard heartfelt thanks for expanding access to Lane County parks and natural areas. John Helmer:

John Helmer: I’m John Helmer, and I’m here happily to report on a success and to give thanks. The success is that we now have two permanently placed track chairs, David’s Chairs, out at the Howard Buford Recreation Area. These electronic devices provide access to folks using wheelchairs and others.

[00:00:29] Everything’s in place. We have a team of volunteers trained up and people are out there using it. I’m one of those volunteers who are helping people.

[00:00:38] And you know the most recent experience was just a classic for me, which was a mother and a son. She’s in her 90s, he’s in his 70s, both with significant mobility issues, got them set up and going. They’d never been to the arboretum, never used a track chair before. They went off with the biggest smiles on their face. They spent two hours independently exploring that site and that’s something that never would have happened before. So a really exciting thing.

[00:01:05] I want to give thanks as well because these things don’t just happen and in particular in terms of the recurring funding to make this happen, we have a set of partners that should be thanked: the Mount Pisgah Arboretum, the McKenzie River Trust, Travel Lane County.

[00:01:22] And really more than others, and all the others in terms of the amount contributed, is Lane County, Lane County government. And I particularly want to thank the Parks Department, the Equity Program, really everybody in the county that helped make this happen.

[00:01:36] There’s also kind of a fun unexpected twist I realized to report today. As I approached the lectern here you might have seen I’m moving a little slow today. That’s because I had my knee replaced just a couple weeks ago. This is my big outing of the day here and so I’m just tottering around.

[00:01:54] Well, you know what? I have one of those chairs reserved for next week. And I point that out because that’s actually typically a part of this kind of initiative. You plan it to serve a particular underserved group. You make reasonable accommodations, take an efficient approach to providing the service, and then there are these unexpected, unpredicted benefits.

[00:02:16] In this case, we plan it for folks using wheelchairs. Well, you know, there’s that Helmer guy’s out there limping out there next week to use it, so it’s pretty exciting to see. I do want to say that, you know, I expect other people like myself who are temporarily disabled to use it, so it will be fun to see how that goes.

[00:02:35] And finally, I just want to mention, too, it’s too easy to pat ourselves on the back. It is a great thing, but it’s really just a beginning when you think of the wealth of parks and all the folks who need help to see them. And with that, I’ll step aside and welcome my good friends in this project, Larry Craig and Loren Cushing.

[00:02:55] Presenter: Larry Craig.

[00:02:56] Larry Craig: My name is Larry Craig. I’m a longtime wheelchair user following a motorcycle accident in 1970 and I’m now retired after serving 38 years in emergency communications.

[00:03:05] I’m here today to talk about universal access and my gratitude for the track chairs that John was just sharing.

[00:03:21] Getting around in our community is pretty good in most paved areas. Curb cuts initially designed for wheelchair users like me also work well for people pushing strollers, bike riders and walkers alike.

[00:03:37] Our public transit system has lifts on all the buses and level platform access for the EmX. I often see elderly riders and folks with walkers, casts, crutches, and strollers who benefit from the same access that I use.

[00:03:58] Getting out in nature is more challenging. Some areas lend themselves to paved universal access like the bike and pedestrian paths we enjoy along the river here in Eugene. Others like the elevated trails in the Howard Buford Recreation Area and the sandy beaches on the coast are challenging for many of us.

[00:04:25] Last spring I heard about an electric track chair that could be reserved online for two hours, no fee, at Heceta Beach. I did that and met a volunteer who greeted me in the parking lot at the county park. After some brief instructions, I headed out across the soft sand with my friend walking alongside further all the way to the edge of the surf and it was such a wonderful feeling to cross the sand and be at water’s edge.

[00:05:00] I was a bit overcome with emotion. I had tears going down my cheeks. It had been 53 years since I’d been able to be on the beach. You just can’t get through soft sand in a manual wheelchair.

[00:05:13] More recently my friend Loren Cushing (who’s going to be following me) and I got to each check out a track chair at the Mount Pisgah Arboretum and explore some of the higher elevation trails that we could never do in our manual chairs.

[00:05:29] John Helmer hiked with us (that was before his knee surgery), and it worked great. The track chairs are quiet and travel at a nice walking pace so we could all enjoy the track together.

[00:05:42] I too would like to express my thanks to the Mount Pisgah Arboretum, the McKenzie River Trust, Travel Lane County, and the Lane County Parks Department, the equity program and all the county and partner agency staff and volunteers for providing this service. So thank you very much.

[00:06:04] Presenter: Loren Cushing.

[00:06:04] Loren Cushing: I’m Loren Cushing. My career profile is a 36-year career as a physical therapist. And the entry or interaction with so many persons with new to disability, pretty much anything off-pavement was off limits, pretty much. And as Larry mentioned, his 50-year history not being on the beach—the David’s Chair has opened up access for so many of us that have difficulty off-road.

[00:06:37] I’m thinking about some of my off-road experiences in my life, as dealing with polio as a youth I walked trails and I backpacked in my youth. In the ’70s-’80s, I started using the chair to access trails and trails that required, that I was able to do independently, mostly as a grunt fest, it’s the difficulty of accessing, and needing a trail partner at times.

[00:07:10] But the joy of having this easy access, safe way to interact with the natural world, is just very liberating and freedom-making. And I’m just so thankful for all the partners that made this happen. I just needed to kind of mention it to John (Helmer) as a possibility and he took off with it.

[00:07:35] Again, it’s wonderful to have a voice and access to environments that previous to David’s Chair has pretty much been listed in the ‘unable to go’ category. And it’s just been fabulous to have these opportunities. And thank you for all the support, all your partners.

[00:07:58] Presenter: Commissioner Heather Buch.

[00:08:00] Commissioner Heather Buch: I appreciate people coming out at 9 o’clock on a Tuesday morning, particularly for your group that spoke on David’s Chair. Thank you for coming in and giving personal testimony about how that affects you.

[00:08:13] I really appreciated the fact that you mentioned that this is just the beginning of accessibility features that we could incorporate in our parks and other divisions that we may not be thinking of yet. And if there are those opportunities, other great ideas that, you know, just wouldn’t otherwise cross our minds, please, please let us know.

[00:08:38] Presenter: Commissioner Ryan Ceniga.

[00:08:40] Commissioner Ryan Ceniga: I appreciate you guys coming in and when you mentioned not being to the ocean’s edge in 53 years, I mean, I could feel the emotion in that, and I know Commissioner Farr’s there a lot. There’s nothing more breathtaking than being on that water’s edge and just looking out as far as you can and you know those are things that people take for granted.

[00:08:59] And so this David’s Chair is just—I mean, I absolutely love it. Along with the Mobi-mats, I’m still getting compliments on those out there. And a lot of them is mothers and fathers with strollers pushing their kids out. A lot of times you’ll have the two- or three-year-old, they’re a ball of fire for a little bit. And then you’ve got to bring them back somehow. So, I love what we’re doing here, and I’m proud of Lane County to be on the forefront of all of this. So, thanks for coming and sharing with us.

[00:09:30] Presenter: Commissioner Pat Farr.

[00:09:31] Commissioner Pat Farr: John Helmer: Gosh, you’re always here, you’re always serving Lane County, you’re always doing good things and reporting on good things… So keep reporting, keep telling, and keep bringing this good news. Because the more good news we hear, the more we’re inclined to act on good news and try to provide better, more good news.

So thanks for being here this morning and I wanted to really especially thank Larry and Loren for your personal accounting of the use of David’s Chair, for instance. So thank you for being here this morning.

[00:09:55] Presenter: Commissioner David Loveall.

[00:09:56] Commissioner David Loveall: John, you always bring great nuggets to the board, you drop really great stuff, and I’m just so appreciative of what you do for the community. You know, Loren, you said something that was very significant. You said anything off-pavement was off-limits, and that really struck me because, I don’t even—that’s not even in my scope of imagination.

[00:10:12] But for you to bring that back to us, to tell us that we need to continue to make ways to bring limitless things to our people who are having disabilities, to off-pavement experiences, that is a really great mantra statement and a mission statement that I’m going to take to heart. So I sincerely appreciate that.

[00:10:31] Presenter: Commissioner Laurie Trieger.

[00:10:32] Commissioner Laurie Trieger: We heard from some folks from a different angle the last week about the importance of our DEI work and really embracing it and the full breadth and scope of what we mean. We talk about diversity (of experience), equity, (does everybody have an opportunity to participate), and inclusion (who’s included—by definition, not being exclusive).

[00:10:52] This is just one of many examples of a program that exemplifies how we embrace our DEI work at Lane County. And I really like that you brought up that curb cuts also benefit people with strollers or pulling a wheelie suitcase when they’re traveling or whatever it might be.

[00:11:09] I often talk about the way we can think of equity is: If the community (and it is) is a large circle, if we pitch all of our funding and programs and focused somewhere in the center large or small, we continue to leave people out on the edges.

[00:11:25] But if we focus on the edges, what are the most barriers and the most challenges and who’s facing them and pitch our investments and our policy and our solutions there, it includes everyone from the outside in. So curb cuts are a great example of that.

[00:11:40] And John, you mentioned talking about people who are, you know, temporarily, you were temporarily disabled. We are all temporarily abled. At some point in just about everyone’s life, there’s going to come a moment, whether it’s just a couple of weeks, ’cause you sprained an ankle, or a life-changing incident or accident that has you living in a chair for the rest of your life, or anything in between, every single one of us will experience a time when we could benefit from a more even surface to walk on, or the curb cut, or a lower button to push to get in an elevator. I was at a performance this weekend. The hearing loops, for example, that we’ve heard about that are being put in in different performance venues in our community.

[00:12:19] It’s just so important to remind us (not that we aren’t all reminded every day of the experience of being in a human body and all the challenges). But it’s really great to have real life examples and to hear your experiences thank you all very much for being here.

[00:12:36] Presenter: Lane County hears praise for expanding accessibility at Heceta Beach, Buford Park, and Mount Pisgah. To reserve a chair, or to support the program as a volunteer, see the website, DavidsChair.org.

Image courtesy Lane County.