“They workin’ like a pit squad at NASCAR!” said Brian Jointer as he watched a crew of volunteers swiftly assess and work on Dosker Manor resident Miles Vaughn’s power chair on Saturday.
Jointer is the local health program manager at SOS International. The organization’s volunteers replaced the battery and tightened Vaughn’s chair’s bolts.
Nearly two dozen Dosker Manor residents got their wheelchairs cleaned and repaired for free last weekend. The repair clinic helped residents with disabilities who will move out of the housing complex before it’s demolished.
Vaughn, who said he’s lived in the downtown complex for seventeen years, said he’s looking forward to moving out of Dosker Manor now that his power chair finally got the repairs it needed.
“It’s time to go!” he said, smiling as he watched volunteers wipe his chair down.
In the first two hours of the clinic at Dosker Manor, volunteers had repaired and replaced parts for 20 wheelchairs.
“Those are 20 people who won't have to worry about ambulating during the transition, which is going to be huge,” Jointer said.
SOS International is a local nonprofit and medical surplus recovery organization that promotes health equity and focuses on health disparities.
The organization received a 2024 Quality of Life Grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to hold eight wheelchair repair clinics across the city for people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity, as well as residents in some public housing complexes.
SOS International partnered with the Coalition for the Homeless, VOCAL-KY, Goodwill, the Arthur Street Hotel and other local organizations to promote the clinics.
Denise Sears, CEO of SOS International, said she saw the clinic as a way to ensure physical, mental and spiritual health.
“If you feel so immobilized because your chair or your rollator can't get you to a service or get you out the door to engage with life in the world, that's terribly demoralizing and depressing,” she said.
Mobility devices and replacement parts are expensive and can take up to a year to arrive. And insurance claims can be denied or take a long time to process. For those without insurance, power chairs can cost thousands of dollars.
Jocelyn Warren is an occupational therapist who supports the nonprofit. She said it’s difficult for mobility device users to get timely repairs. Wheelchairs and power chairs require maintenance every few months, and Medicare only covers a wheelchair or scooter replacement every five years.
“Some of these people, this is their transportation, and they are on the streets, and their wheelchair takes a lot of wear and tear. They cannot make it for five years,” she said.
An ill-fitting chair or mobility device in need of repairs can be detrimental to people with disabilities, said Kara Ayers. She is an associate professor in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital who also works on regional and national disability policy issues.
“Not only does it block people from accessing their community, whether that be for employment or just the right to live in community, go to the grocery store, get food that you need, but also, there have definitely been health complications,” she said.
Ayers said getting a wheelchair or mobility device isn’t simple. It’s highly dependent on the healthcare system’s process for getting a mobility aid, which requires a prescription and long wait times
And if a person needs replacement parts, Ayers said it’s another cycle involving their doctor and insurance.
“I think the system is built with the idea that the person with a disability doesn't know best, you know, like they really can't be trusted to pick out an order that they need. They should have this oversight,” she said.
SOS International plans to have six more wheelchair repair clinics across the city.
