Organization fixing houses for the elderly

Last fall, Sylvia Robinson’s home was slowly deteriorating because of a leaky roof.

Today,… Last fall, Sylvia Robinson’s home was slowly deteriorating because of a leaky roof.

Today, the 72-year-old Homewood resident’s home has new siding, an updated bathroom, new appliances and a roof without holes.

Robinson survived the winter after having someone come in and patch the roof’s gaps, but it wasn’t until this spring that Rebuilding Together — a national organization devoted to repairing the homes of low-income senior citizens — came to her rescue.’

‘In my wildest dreams I didn’t know that programs like this were available,’ said Robinson.

On April 26, National Rebuilding Day, Rebuilding Pittsburgh — the local branch of Rebuilding Together — worked on 28 homes like hers with the use of more than 1,000 volunteers and $491,000.

All of the houses were owned by low-income senior citizens who were unable to repair their own homes, said Cindy Gilch, the organization’s executive director.

‘Hundreds and hundreds of homes here in Pittsburgh owned by seniors are in bad condition,’ said Gilch. ‘They don’t have the financial or physical resources to repair, maintain and modify a home.’

Planning for Rebuilding Day begins 10 months in advance. There is a selection process that helps Gilch and her associates wade through more than 400 applicants in need of home repairs.

Pittsburgh has the nation’s second largest senior population and has the seventh oldest housing stock, said Gilch. These two factors mean that the need for assistance is overwhelming.’

Rebuilding Pittsburgh relies on corporate sponsors and volunteers. The organization even brings in volunteer contractors and construction workers to lead volunteer teams.

Ten years ago, as a part of a group of Pittsburgh occupational therapists, Pam Toto became another part of the skilled work team behind Rebuilding Day.

Toto, an occupational therapist and an adjunct professor in Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, saw an advertisement for Rebuilding Day.

She and her fellow occupational therapists considered their own skill sets and decided they had something to offer to the cause.

Since Toto’s involvement began, she said Rebuilding Day benefits from an average of 30 to 40 volunteers from Pitt.

As an OT, Toto said, at the most basic level, her job is to help rehabilitate a person to be able to do the things he wants to do. In this case, she and her colleagues were working with senior citizens whose goal was to stay in their homes.

‘What we do is we talk with the person, and we find out what they need to be able to do and make sure the environment fits their needs,’ she said. ‘We know the questions to ask.’

Ten years later, Toto is still involved in the early evaluation of several homes, as well as the actual work done on Rebuilding Day. Toto has also used her connection with Pitt to get students involved.

‘It was a good experience to get involved and see how a home assessment happened,’ said Bobbi Ann Volkman, an occupational therapy graduate student at Pitt who volunteered this April.

Most of her day was spent talking to the woman whose home was being repaired. Though students aren’t usually involved in the assessment phase, they are brought in to help on Rebuilding Day, often by installing things such as grab bars in the bathroom, railings for stairways or other aids for the resident.

As an OT-in-training, Volkman has learned that asking the right questions is imperative to learning how to help a person. And it is no different when it comes to Rebuilding Day endeavors.

‘It’s definitely client-centered,’ she said. ‘You may get into a bathtub a certain way, and she may get into it a completely different way.’

A couple of years ago, Toto went to the house of a woman who relied on a walker. She cooked her whole life, and her galley kitchen — with a stove on one side and a sink on the other — didn’t make things easy.

When making spaghetti, she was forced to transport the water cup by cup from the sink to the stove because she was unable to carry a water-filled pot while supporting herself with a walker. The process was similar when it came to draining the pot. She emptied the water into a separate pot and cup by cup, emptied it into the sink across the kitchen.

The contractors’ immediate thought was to redo the entire kitchen, making it so the stove and sink were placed next to each other.

‘And we said, we could do that, or we could just get her a utility cart,’ said Toto. The cart saved money and allowed the woman to transport materials across her kitchen while lending the support her walker would have.

‘A lot of these seniors are victims in their own homes,’ said Gilch.

Rebuilding Together, alongside the contractors and occupational therapists who volunteer for them, makes it possible for these men and women to remain in their homes safely and more comfortably by offering solutions to problems that many senior citizens face, such as maneuvering stairways and taking baths or showers.

Alma Jean Pope, a 70-year-old Knocksville resident, received assistance from Rebuilding Together this year when she was in need of a new basement door.

When the volunteers arrived to make those repairs, Pope was told she was eligible for assistance on Rebuilding Day.’

‘They did some things that were sorely needed on our home,’ she said. ‘They replaced windows and they did some work on the chimney that had caused water damage and plaster to fall in the house.’

She and her husband are now proud of their new home.

‘It’s just so good to look around,’ said Pope. ‘It makes you feel so good.’

Robinson feels the same way. Not only is her house safe and livable again, but she can now add her personal touches to the place.

‘And the team of volunteers was great,’ she said. ‘I’ve never met a group of people with their attitude and disposition, and they really, really wanted to do the work.

‘It was a wonderful day, and when they left, I missed them. They made it fun for me.’