By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
WESTHAMPTON - Every day, to get to a hospital bed in the basement, Mark Wright uses a cane to struggle down a long metal ramp connected to his back porch. Then he must lean over to hoist open two heavy metal doors on the bulkhead at the rear of his Southampton Road home. A longtime Westhampton resident, Wright, 51, retired from the U.S. Army in 1983 because of injuries that led to permanent physical disabilities.
Although he frequently uses a wheelchair while inside his home, Wright said when getting around outdoors he typically relies on a cane. He needs the hospital bed in the basement, he said, because in order to sleep without pain he has to elevate his right leg which, after two surgeries, doesn't bend as it should and is a full inch longer than his left.
In 2008, Wright was awarded $64,000 in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to construct a handicapped-accessible home. As it has turned out, that was the easy part.
The hard part has been finding a contractor willing to use the federal dollars to convert his small trailer into housing that meets the VA's accessibility requirements. His trailer is housed on a lot in a small meadow off Southampton Road about 2 miles from the center of town.
It has been more than two years, and Wright's house is still not accessible to someone who has trouble just getting up and down the steps on the front porch to check the mailbox.
In addition to widening the trailer's doorways and hallways, Wright said the project would also install bathroom fixtures that will help him with day-to-day tasks and a fireplace to help keep warm when dealing with his arthritis in the winter months.
"I'm mainly using a cane for now but I'm 51 and 60 isn't far off," Wright said. "These disabilities I have to my back, leg and foot are going to be with me the rest of my life and I may end up needing a home made for a wheelchair in the future."
While traversing the Westhampton property last week, Wright used a cane to make his way around his light blue trailer home that rests atop a cement foundation. With noticeable discomfort, he demonstrated the exertion it takes him just to get from his front door to the garage entrance in the back.
"I'm not over here looking for someone to build me a new house for nothing, I'm just looking for a contractor who is willing to work with the Veterans Administration. So far that has been really hard to find," Wright said. "It's been almost three years now and I'm still in the same boat."
Wright has had ongoing problems resulting from a knee replacement surgery two years ago that ended in an infection and required spending eight days at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. He also suffered non-combat injuries to his back and feet that make it difficult to accomplish day-to-day tasks.
"I'm just really worn out," Wright said. "Having to deal with the disabilities and all the pain in addition to trying to get what you need from the VA can be too much."
For almost a year now, Wright has continued his search for a contractor with the assistance of Christopher McGurk, a fellow veteran and an outreach coordinator for the state's Department of Veterans' Services.
"It has just been a really frustrating process for Mark," McGurk said. "Over the last couple of months we've had several contractors go out there and look at his property and for one reason or another they've all passed on the project."
In order to make his home handicapped accessible, Wright said builders would have to remove the existing trailer from the foundation because in order to qualify for the VA's Adaptive Housing grant funding the project would have to meet all of the administration's regulations.
The doors on Wright's 14-foot-wide trailer, he said, aren't even wide enough to drive his electric wheelchair through and are far from being compliant with the VA's door regulations.
"I would love to see this project completed by this winter because I've been out there to see him a number of times and the situation just breaks my heart," McGurk said.
Although he said he already has enough VA grant funding lined up to help pay for the majority of the reconstruction project, Wright said the problem is that he can't apply for a bank loan to help pay the difference until a contractor signs on and provides him with a price estimate.
McGurk said any contractor that meets the VA's requirements regarding worker's insurance and is deemed qualified could be selected to complete the project and he hopes to get shovels in the ground before this year's building season ends.
"All they would have to do is sign off on three pieces of paper saying they are an equal opportunity employer and that they have the necessary insurance for the project. It's as easy as that," McGurk said. "So far we just haven't found anyone willing to do the work."
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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