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SAFE AND SOUND
Coulee Region Mobility remodeling turns a basic house into an accessible home for a Tomah family. BY HEIDI BLANKE | PHOTOS BY HAZEL MEDIA LLC
Coulee Region Mobility helped the Shumway family of Tomah turn a basic ranch-style house into a safe and accessible home that provides a level of independence for their son, Andrew. It includes (pictured at right) a ceiling track system and sling seat for transfers from Andrew’s bedroom to the bathroom.
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auri and Stephen Shumway’s new Tomah home is more than simply a roof over their heads. It’s a place where they can take refuge with confidence that their son, Andrew, who uses a wheelchair, can safely access his home. The house was featured in the La Crosse Area Builders Association 2021 Parade of Homes in a virtual tour. READY AND WAITING The Shumways, retired military, chose the ranch-style home because it could likely reach the level of accessibility the family required. With the assistance of Independent Living Resources (ILR), a local agency that helps people with disabilities live more independently, improvements went into place. The agency made suggestions for how the home could work to Andrew’s advantage, and its recommendations paved the way for funding. “We knew the house could be accommodated,” Lauri Shumway says. The Shumways lived in their previous Tomah home for 18 years, and Andrew was wary of the move. Now, though, Lauri says, “He thinks it’s nice. He loves Monsters, Inc., so we did his bedroom with monsters on the wall.” Large cartoon characters dominate a wall in the bright blue room, and stuffed animals populate a bookcase. But it took more than décor to make the home work for the family. ENTER COULEE REGION MOBILITY With the help of Brandy Ender, owner of Coulee Region Mobility, the home became a place where Andrew could live and be cared for because of the carefully designed integrated features.
Ender started his company in 2015 when the company he worked for was sold. “I’ve always been into construction or some sort of trade, so I went to work for a bathroom remodeler who started doing accessible bathrooms,” he says. Ender was eventually sent to train for chair lift installations and discovered he really liked doing the accessibility work. He jokes that he “makes people cry,” but only because they gain a level of independence. “It’s about the satisfaction of knowing I helped a person stay in their home, safe and sound,” he says. “I have given them access to their home so they can stay there.” Ender had been looking forward to completing a home that would showcase all of his business’s capabilities, and the Shumway place fit the bill. Improvements included an entry ramp, stair lift to the basement, vertical platform lift and a ceiling track system from the bedroom to a bathroom with a no-step shower. Inside, the décor is streamlined to allow wheelchair movement, yet it is still warm and inviting. Lauri says Andrew loves showing off his accessible features. “He calls the vertical lift his elevator and the ceiling track system his zipline,” she says. The ceiling track is a U-shaped rail in his bedroom that leads to the bathroom. A chair-like sling is the “zipline” seat, and a push from Mom sends him on his way. Ender built a custom drive-under vanity that matched the original vanity perfectly so that Andrew can access his bathroom sink. “He’s never had the ability to wash his hands in a sink under running water before. This is pretty significant for him,” Lauri says. In the living room, tubular white rails looking much like a www.crwmagazine.com OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 35
