More than two weeks later, system scheduled to be repaired
By Vicky Wedig
editor
Residents in the Westshire Farms at the Lake retirement community had no functioning elevator since July 21, leaving those without the ability to traverse stairs essentially trapped in their apartments.
“They can’t get out,” said Nancy Houghton, of Rockton, Ill., whose parents, Ken Whitby, 84, and Joan Whitby, 82, live on the third floor of one of the Town of Delavan housing towers.
Houghton said her father returned home from having knee surgery July 23 and found the elevator not functioning. Whitby was not able to walk up the stairs, so Houghton called 911 and had the Town of Delavan rescue squad get her father to his apartment.
Lightning strike
Property manager Tish Lux said lightning struck the building’s alarm system panel July 21. Without a functioning alarm system, people have no way of calling for help or notifying anyone if they get stuck in the elevator, so township Fire Chief Jerry Edwards said the elevators can’t be used until the alarm system is repaired.
Edwards said having no functioning alarm system or elevators is a fire and safety hazard.
“They’re risking those people’s lives,” he said.
Edwards said having people unable to traverse stairs living on the second or third floors is a safety hazard to begin with since elevators lock up if a fire occurs.
“If you can’t get down the steps, you’re screwed,” he said. “In the first place, they shouldn’t be up there.”
Lux said about seven residents in each building use walkers or wheelchairs and are unable to get up and down stairs.
Town of Delavan police agreed to assist people in the event of emergencies – if they needed to get to a cancer treatment appointment or had serious health issues.
Township Police Chief Ray Clark said Aug. 4 the department had been called upon 10 to 15 times in the two weeks the elevators had been down to transport people up and down stairs.
“I think it would have been more but we quickly said we can’t help somebody down to go get their mail or go sit in the lobby,” he said. “We can’t leave them not getting to doctor appointments.”
Clark said in many cases, the rescue squad, which is a volunteer department, had to be called to lift people.
But Edwards said the township should not be responsible for transporting people up and down the stairs at taxpayer expense. He said the company is responsible for repairing the equipment, which is likely costly, and for its residents.
“They’re dragging their feet to fix it,” Edwards said. ““They’re playing with dollars and they’re playing with those people’s lives, in my opinion.”
Edwards said the township has no further authority over the matter.
“The only other authority I could do is move all those people out and put them in hotels,” said Edwards, who noted the bill for the hotel rooms would go to Westshire Farms, not township taxpayers.
Lux said Edwards made it clear he would evacuate the buildings if the elevators were turned on without a functioning alarm system. She said management provided night watch with people walking the hallways at night and offered to get mail and groceries for people who were unable to get out.
“We’ve tried to do whatever we can to make life simple,” she said. “We feel terrible about this. My hands were tied.”
But Houghton said no one contacted her parents until July 29 – more than a week after the elevators stopped functioning.
“He had therapy finally today when he was supposed to be getting it three times a week,” Houghton said Aug. 4 about her dad.
She said residents were initially told the repair would take a day or two, then later, two to three weeks.
“I’ve been getting madder and madder and madder obviously,” she said.
Houghton said had she known the elevator would be out for more than two weeks, she would have hired home health agents to come in to help her dad.
Insurance hold-up
Lux said the repair took time to arrange because the insurance company required gathering bids and approving the estimate.
“You can’t just go to Lowe’s and get a battery and put it in,” she said. “It’s costly. It’s not like a little $500 fix.”
Lux said Aug. 4 the company had finally gotten insurance company approval, and the repair was set to be done Aug. 9. She said the parts that needed to be repaired to get the elevators up and running would be the first priority.
“We’re very thrilled that this is going to happen on Monday,” Lux said last week. “If we could have it happen today, we would.”
The elevators were finally working on August 27th! 41 days after the lightening strike!! No one did overtime work or work over the weekends. With lowest bids, how long until it happens again?
Westshire Farms should not have waited for the Insurance company to get the lowest bid. They should of hired someone and then sent the bill to them. The residence lives were at stake. I feel they did not do enough to get this fix in a timely matter! Our Mother lives on the second floor and we had to reschedule her doctors appointments because of this issue. She was only out of her apartment twice in 5-6 weeks!