Navigating the sidewalks in a wheelchair

Today, my first full day back from physical rehab, I attended a Society of Professional Journalists luncheon down the street.  So I ventured out in the power chair from my place at 16th & Locust over to Lucas Park Grille at 13th and Washington.

Not a huge distance but one that would have been pretty difficult in a manual chair.  Curb ramps were in place on all the corners except one.  The ones that did exist, however, were often broken or had a huge edge at the point of approach.  Again the power chair was able to handle the situation but not everyone has such a chair.  Also I have to say that using a manual chair vs a power one can be rewarding — like riding a bike vs driving a car — one requires physical exertion but with that you get a sense of accomplishment.  You seem more connected to your environment.

At a casual glance we look around and see curb ramps and thus assume the environment is accessible to the physically disabled.   The real question we need to ask is how functional is the environment?  Poorly installed or damaged curb ramps reduces functionality, at times to zero.  Cities all over the country pay a small fortune to upgrade their intersections with curb ramps but when they don’t work as intended it simply becomes another waste of taxpayer money.

On the other side, when curbs and such are done right, disabled members of the community can lead independent lives rather than wasting away in costly nursing homes.    In that context, investing in accessible
infrastructure is very cost effective.

A fellow patient from MRC also returned to his home near South County Mall yesterday.  Despite being close to both a good number of employment and shopping choices his options for getting there are very limited.  His neighborhood of single family detached dwellings has plenty of paving for driveways but not sidewalks.  Getting to a point where he could catch a bus is nearly impossible.  He’ll need an expensive van with a lift to be mobile not because of his inability to push his wheelchair but because of the poor pedestrian nature of where he lives.   So while I may have issues with a ramp here or there at least we have sidewalks!

We all make choices about where we live and I must say I am very pleased with mine.

I’m Returning Home Today!

After three very challenging months, later today I will be back at home. I still have a lot of rehab to do in order to be back where I was prior to the stroke but that will take some time.

For the past nearly two weeks I have been “independent in my room” meaning that I was free to walk to the bathroom and to do my own transfers from the wheelchair to the bed and back. For several days now I have been “independent on the floor” which meant I could walk to the dining room for floor without a staff person at my side.

I still have some anxiety about being on my own again after having so much excellent help. Still I have managed to overcome great adversity these last three months so I know that I have the willpower to meet the challenges that I will soon face.

A couple of days ago I uploaded a new video to YouTube. It’s only 20 seconds but it shows me moving my left arm. My left hand is wrapped to a table top device they call the bicycle which you pedal with your hands. I’m able to use my shoulder to pull my arm back to my side — keeping this up allows me to rotate the pedal over and over.  Check it out:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccGh0rTGinE[/youtube]

I have a loaner wheelchair until I get my own in June.  Around the house I will be walking with my cane but the loaner chair is motorized so that will give me the freedom to run around downtown with ease.  It will also let me get to the bus and MetroLink.  I’ve got a folding cane ordered so I might use the power to get somewhere and then walk at that point.  The longest I’ve walked since the stroke has been about 600 feet — half a block roughly.
Sadly it will be some time before I’m back on my Honda scooter so I am reluctantly car shopping.

In packing up my stuff yesterday I realized this was the longest I had been away from the City of St. Louis since I moved here in August 1990 at the young age of 23.   St Louis is my adopted home and despite my criticisms of it’s flaws I am so looking forward to being back.

I want to thank my blood family as well as my St Louis family of close friends for being there with me on this journey — I could have not survived without them — literally.  In the coming months their help will again play an important role in my life.   Thanks to all of you sticking with me here at UrbanReviewSTL these last few months.

For the moment it is just so exciting to be returning home.

MoDot wants to pave Missouri

The Missouri Department is now arguing for additional funding  to  reconstruct  some 200 miles of I-70.  MoDot now wants to double the number of lanes between St Louis and Kansas City — four total for passenger vehicles and local trucks and four total lanes for long haul trucks.  They argue, unconvincingly, that truck traffic is going to double by 2030 and that our quality of life is in danger without this new highway.  Here is their propaganda video:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=VTUf3qZQvf4[/youtube]

Rising fuel cost will shift the demand for these big trucks.  Increasing transportation costs will alter the markets enough that we will hopefully see a return to local production, thereby reducing the need to truck stuff into the state.  The billions of dollars proposed to be spent on this highway project would be better invested in re-establishing local manufacturing and food production within the state.

This highway, if built, would be like the new runway at the St Louis airport — an expensive project built on false assumptions about projected growth.

If they want to build such a highway then build toll booths as well.  Make those that use it pay the cost.  Sure for transportation that cost will end up in the price of goods but that is the reality of the situation — better to have the transportation cost in the price of the item rather than having it in a tax on something unrelated.

MoDot talks about the costs to maintain what we currently have and yet they want to add many more acres of paving in addition to more bridges and so on.  This to me would be a major waste of tax dollars.

Patterson on KDHX’s Collateral Damage program tonight, April 28th 7pm

Like last month, I will be a phone guest on KDHX’s Collateral Damage program, at 7pm this evening (April the 28th). You can tune in at 88.1FM in the St Louis area or listen online at kdhx.org.

Last month host DJ Wilson and I talked about what it was like to have a stroke and my progress in rehab to that point — at the time I had only arrived at Missouri Rehabilitation a few days earlier after nearly a month at SSM Rehab/St Mary’s Hospital which itself followed a few weeks in ICU at Sy Louis University Hospital.

From kdhx.org:

Steve Patterson, the indefatigable blogmeister of www.urbanreviewstl.com, returns to Collateral Damage at 7 p.m. Monday night, April 28th. Patterson continues his recovery from a stroke and while typing one-handed beat the mainstream media by almost a week on the troubles at John Steffen’s Pyramid development company. Listen Monday night for Patterson’s take on what Pyramid’s financial crisis means for downtown St. Louis, and beyond.

In addition to talking about Pyramid’s closure and what that means to downtown & the city we will touch on the San Luis Apartments on Lindell — specifically that no matter what you may think of the building it is better than a surface parking lot.  I will also be sharing with everyone the date in which I return to St Louis and to my own place.

Former Sanatorium grounds offers glimpse into Missouri’s history

Since March 21st I have been at the Missouri Rehabilitation Center located on a big hill overlooking the small Missouri Town of Mt Vernon. Originally the facility was opened in 1907 as a Tuberculosis sanatorium. In the 1980’s the focus shifted to physical rehabilitation.

Back in the day the facility was completely self sustaining complete with its own farm fields, dairy cows and so on. So yesterday I got bored and decided to go exploring — in my wheelchair!

I did three outings yesterday in different directions, taking my camera on two out of three trips.

Above is the main administration building although this entry is no longer the main entrance. Wings were added on each side in the 1950’s. … Continue Reading