Ramping It Up for the Cash-Strapped Disabled

By R.J. Cohn

A cadre of volunteers with hearts as big as a harvest moon — from seasoned carpenters to newbies who’ve never held a DeWalt electric drill — are giving mobility to Cochise County’s low-income disabled by building wheelchair ramps without costing them a penny.

For the majority of the disability-bound residents, it’s not just a new lease on life.

It has created entry into a world with a newfound freedom many have not experienced for decades.

“The need in Cochise County alone for disabled residents needing wheelchair ramps is absolutely huge,” says Operations Manager Dale O’Neill of the nonprofit Servants at Work Southwest (SAWS), an affiliate of its national foundation based in Indiana that began an ambitious mission to provide ramps in 2003. “We’ll go anywhere in the area and beyond when there’s a need and qualified recipient. The need is so overwhelming that it’s exceeding our budget. Whatever it takes, we want to give house-bound residents the freedom of mobility they deserve.”

What it takes is commitment, funding and a group of volunteers linked on one common goal: Getting permanently handicapped residents freestanding ramps at their front doors to make their lives more manageable.

With 42 ramps completed since 2019 when SAWS began in Cochise County — along with more nearing completion — its mission of changing lives one ramp at a time into a world previously shuttered has been a significant step towards restoring their independence and dignity.

For O’Neill and volunteer Eric Anderson, SAWS life-changing undertaking of providing ramps — whose costs have doubled since 2019 from $1,000 to $2,200 — almost brings tears to volunteers installing them when a recipient wheels out on their ramp for the first time.

“Many have struggled for years trying to get out of their homes without falling, relying on friends or family just for a doctor’s appointment,” says O’Neill, who worked 31 years building power plants around the world for global engineering giant Bechtel. "When they use the ramp for the first time, they’re so moved with joy they have no words. That’s our payback, that’s what we want to see. It’s overwhelming for many of our volunteers to witness that.”

With 12-15 volunteers — the majority of whom have had little to no building experience — the group constructs the ramps built to ADA standards with pressure-treated wood in a 1,000-square-foot shop on Sierra Vista’s northside. While refabrication and pre-cutting allows the ramp — secured with 1,000, 3-inch screws — to be completed in a week or less, the application process to on-site ramp assembly takes about two months.

“To get the ball rolling, an application or referral from a referring agency predetermining a low-income recipient's financial need based on the county median income has to be established along with demonstrating long-term, permanent disability,” says O’Neill. “We have to ensure that people really need them, not just want them.”

After approval, a site survey is conducted to see if a ramp can be feasibly built on the property.

Like any struggling nonprofit, SAWS is dependent on grants — some which have come from Sierra Vista’s Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona — donations and volunteers.

“Without these, we don’t exist, and ramps don’t get built,” says O’Neill, who donated his home shop for the five years to get SAWS off and running.

It’s been on a roll ever since, building ramps in wherever the need takes them, from Willcox to Patagonia, Sierra Vista to McNeil.

“Many of us live in a comfortable bubble, but when you get out of that bubble and see the poverty in rural Cochise County it’s shocking,” says Anderson. “Many manufactured homes we install ramps for are built on rough terrain that makes getting out the door a challenge and keeps many disabled shuttered. Some hardly even get outside at all. Fry Fire District firefighters and Capt. Mark Savage have been instrumental in coming to their aid when they fall and even taking them to doctor’s appointments. They’re in the middle of all this and 100 percent behind what we’ve doing.”

So are the volunteers, many who come to SAWs without a stitch of woodworking experience.

“As long as people have willing hands, open hearts and can hold an electric drill, they’ll be pros in no time,” says O’Neill. “The more volunteers we have, the faster we can build ramps.”

To volunteer, go to www.sawssouthwest.org and click on ‘Volunteer’ or call (844) 668-7297. 

To apply for a ramp, go to https://sawssouthwest.org/index.php/request-a-ramp-2/.