With No Working Elevator, Senior Feels Trapped In His 4th-Floor Apt.
With No Working Elevator, Senior Feels Trapped In His 4th-Floor Apt.
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
With No Working Elevator, Senior Feels Trapped In His 4th-Floor Apt.Schuyler King has never felt as trapped as he has for the past week living in the Retired Tigers apartment building.
The 79-year-old man, who has Stage 4 cancer, is confined to a wheelchair most of the time and lives on the fourth floor of the building at 320 W. Main St., Warsaw. The only way for him to go downstairs or outside is by the elevator, which hasn’t worked since Monday. It’s not expected to be functioning again until Wednesday.
“They don’t even come up and check on me or anybody up here. And that’s wrong,” King said in his apartment Friday afternoon.
His caregiver, Kristy Guess from Home Helpers, got so concerned for him because King was so concerned that Guess called everyone she could think of to bring attention to the elevator.
Warsaw Code Enforcement Officer Dana Hewitt asked if anyone from Retired Tigers had come to speak to him. King said no.
When Hewitt asked if Retired Tigers was aware of the elevator issue, Guess said, “Oh, they’re very aware of it. When it broke down, I was in it, and that was Monday. (Apartment Manager) Brandon (Prater) got us out of it, but nothing has happened since and no word (has been given). There’s rumors but there’s no actual talking with anyone.”
King said he hasn’t seen Prater or a maintenance person, but no one comes to check on him anyway.
“I’m stuck in this damn chair most of the time. I could walk a little bit, but not that much. But what upsets me is it’s like they don’t give a damn,” he said.
Guess said there’s “quite a few people up here who can’t get down the stairs.”
King’s friend, David Lemler, who also lives on the fourth floor, was visiting with King Friday. He walks but has a hard time with the stairs.
As Hewitt went to go find someone to answer his questions about the elevator. King said he’s in a wheelchair because he has neuropathy from the knees down. Guess said King also has two 90% blockages in his heart and is in Stage 4 cancer.
“He’s on Hospice and nobody can get him down the stairs,” Guess said.
She is with King Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and every other weekend.
Lemler has lived at Retired Tigers a couple of years. King has only lived there since last April.
Since King has lived at Retired Tigers, Guess said there’s been problems with the elevator five times. Problems with the elevator at the apartment building were reported by various media for over eight years.
Guess said the elevator is usually fixed “way faster than this. It’s usually within a day, if not the same day.”
“I heard rumor it won’t be fixed until next Wednesday. I’ve never felt trapped in my life until I moved here. It’s ridiculous. It’s asinine. They don’t even come check on us to see if we need anything,” King said.
Guess acknowledged the apartments are private and it’s not the job of Retired Tigers staff to check on its residents. “But they don’t let them know anything. They didn’t notify them the elevator was broken. They didn’t notify them about anything of when it might be fixed. There’s just no notification. There’s no communication between management and the tenants,” she said.
She said she talked to the fire department chief and he told her the only way to get King down is with a stair chair. “They would have to come bring him down on a stair chair,” she said.
King isn’t the only resident who would need to be brought down by stair chair, she said.
The building is four floors. Each apartment has one bedroom, and rent is based on the income of the senior citizen who lives there. Residents are 62 or older, or disabled. Because he has a cat, King pays $318 a month.
“I know it’s cheap compared to a lot of other places,” he said.
Ideally, he just wants the owners to fix the elevator. “Something has to be done about this. Management doesn’t even come check on the tenants to see if they need anything or nothing. You pay your rent on time and everything and nothing happens,” he said.
Guess said the apartment building does need some work, but it’s still functional as an apartment building.
“All the years I’ve rented apartments, this is the first time I’ve ever felt trapped,” King said. Previously, he lived at Historic Blue Bell Lofts in Columbia City. After he suffered a heart attack, he ended up in the hospital and had rehab in a nursing home. He came to Retired Tigers from the nursing home.
As for family, King said he has a niece who comes to visit when she can, but she’s a nurse at Parkview.
Guess said King has had panic attacks because of the current situation with the elevator and not being able to go downstairs or outside. She said he feels trapped and had to take medication for his nerves. She said he would really “freak out” when she left at 4 p.m.
Guess and King agreed it would help him if they moved him to the first floor.
“He has a social worker from Hospice that has already called Brandon and requested that he be put down on the first floor,” Guess said. “They’re pushing for him to get moved downstairs.”
Hewitt spoke with the service coordinator. She would not speak directly to the newspaper, but provided a phone number of 805-495-8400 to California Commercial Investment, which owns the property. Voicemail was left at that number for a Danielle, but no response was received as of press time Friday. Prater was not in the building at the time of Friday’s interview and no phone number for him was provided.
Hewitt did say the service coordinator told him that the elevator repairmen had been there several times. The “resolve” time was Wednesday.
“She did say they are providing meals to those who can’t make it downstairs and try to accommodate as best as possible,” he said. “They are full. When asked if they could move people around, she indicated they are full, that there are no rooms to make the swap.”
As far as the city is concerned, Hewitt said the city just asks that they make a reasonable effort within a reasonable time frame to fix what’s broke. Unfortunately, in this time, parts aren’t always readily available or on hand.
“That doesn’t help him feeling the way he does, but those are the answers to my questions,” Hewitt said.
