Changing Lives & Communities: Repair, Revitalize & Rebuild
In this episode Kathy Greiner gives eye-opening insights to what it means to age in place or have wheelchair mobility to ensure that families and individuals can live independently and safely in their homes.
Kathy Greiner is Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Minnesota. Since 1997 this nonprofit serves low-income homeowners who are seniors, individuals living with disabilities, families with children and veterans and their families in need, as well as nonprofit facilities in need of repairs.
Quotes
“..the homeowners have essentially become trapped in their home because ...they can't navigate the steps out the back door and they just don't know what to do. So they...become home bound. And ... the team goes out and builds a ramp and they see the homeowner use that to go out of their house for the first time in three years... it's really emotional for everybody. “
“Our first concern is to make sure a family is safe and healthy in that home...Because as some research has actually shown... your home is one of those major determinants of your health.”
“I think for a lot of people, they don't realize the conditions that some of their neighbors live in. .... and that they may only live in one or two rooms because they're afraid of hurting themselves in another room...I think for a lot of volunteers, it ends up being an eye-opener when they're working on the home of someone, they see how folks live.”
