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Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Local resident gets special lift assistance to be more mobile. “I will be in a wheelchair eventually,” she said. “I am not going to be getting any better. So, this is a big help. I can’t say enough good things about CAT. They are like angels.” McMartin said she recommends CAT for anyone needing such mobility services. “I really appreciate all of the help that they have given me. It has just been great,” she said. “This is a long-term loan as a lift. When I pass away, or become too immobile, the lift will go back to CAT and they will have it to offer to another client. Jones said the CAT lift project’s value is estimated at $10,000. CAT had the lift in storage when the agency received the call from McMartin for assistance. The cost for the lift was about $2,500 and paid for through donated funding, according to Jones.
Originally published in The Chronicle Vol. 140 June 22, 2022 JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net
Local residents with mobility challenges now have a new resource to help move them from here to there. The Community Action Team (CAT) has created a new program designed to repurpose wheelchair ramps and wheelchair lifts after use. “We have named this new program Revolving Wheelchair Ramps and Lifts Program,” CAT Coordinator Neal Jones said. St. Helens resident Patricia McMartin is the first participant in the mobility assistance program. McMartin was recently diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease affecting brain and spinal cord nerve cells. The disease has affected McMartin’s ability to walk, climb steps and live a lifestyle she had just a year ago. Knowing that her life was rapidly changing, McMartin said she started searching for a new home that is Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible and found a home that met some of her ADA needs but lacked access to the house. After having difficulties finding contractors, Patricia reached out to the CAT team for assistance. Jones evaluated McMartin’s needs and constructed a plan to provide her with a wheelchair lift and material to construct a landing. The project would be no cost to McMartin under the condition that she donate the lift it back to CAT after use.
Resources
Courtesy photo from CAT
St. Helens resident Patricia McMartin stands on the mobility lift landing in her home garage.
“Her son Ian McMartin and his father Jim McMartin offered to construct the wheelchair landing and mount the wheel chair lift,” Jones said. “Their combined efforts in conjunction with Community Action Team played a key role in making this project affordable.” Materials were delivered,
and construction immediately began and over two days the wheelchair lift was erected, and the wheelchair platform was completed, according to Jones “Patricia now has safe access to her house thanks to Community Action Team, Ian McMartin and Jim McMartin,” Jones said.
“The lift is really instrumental in making it easier for me to go in and out of my house,” McMartin said. “I was using stairs before the lift was installed. McMartin had used a walker to go up and down the home stairs to reach her car. She said the wheelchair lift provides her the opportunity
To learn more about ALS visit www.als.org. To make donations to support the Revolving Wheelchair Ramps and Lift Program or if you have a wheelchair ramp or wheelchair lift and would like to donate it now or after use, contact Neal Jones at the Community Action Team at 503-369-6922. Check or money orders can be sent to Community Action Team, Attention CI Dept. 125 N 17th Street, St. Helens, OR 97051. To learn more about programs that Community Action Team offers, other opportunities to assist or to locate resources, contact CAT at 503-397-3511 or visit us at www.cat-team.org.
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CMHS students leave legacy
Courtesy photo from Jaime Erwin
Art Director Jaime Erwin and members of Clatskanie Bloom stand alongside the art fence created by CMHS art students.
Originally published in The Chief Vol. 131 June 24, 2022 ZOE GOTTLIEB chronicle2@countrymedia.net
Clatskanie high school art students have made their mark with a vibrant new addition to the Clatskanie Middle/High School (CMHS) campus. On Thursday, June 23, CMHS Fine Arts Director Jaime Erwin brushed the last coat of paint on a multicolored fence that wraps around the school’s garden. On each fence board, one or more cursive letters spell out the phrase “Grow through what you go through.” The garden belongs to James Byrne, a Biology and
Agriculture teacher at the high school. “(Byrne) has a garden out behind the school where his classes grow things, and they have birdhouses that they check out,” Erwin said. “I asked him (if) he is okay if we recreated an art fence and put it back in his garden. He said that’s a great idea.” The idea for a fence painting project was first introduced by Clatskanie Bloom, a group supporting local artists in Clatskanie. “They had a similar project in the park by their art gallery, where they had a call out to artists,” Erwin explained. “It was (for) adults and kids, and they could come to get a board that gave them guidelines for how to paint the board and have a quote on there as well.”
Erwin saw the potential to turn the activity into a campus beautification project for her students, and after receiving a $750 grant from Clatskanie Bloom, she put a plan into motion. CMHS Career Technical Education (CTE)/Forestry teacher Denny Flatz had his wood shop class prepare the materials for the project. “They primed it all for us, and there’s no bottom of the fence, so they installed bottom boards on the fence so that we (could) screw in the fence boards, up at the top and then the bottom,” Erwin said. The art students, 20 in all, were each given a board to paint and two weeks to complete their original design as part of their final school project heading into summer vacation.
Enrichment through art As the CMHS fine arts director, Erwin teaches a variety of arts disciplines, including drama, music, and studio art. Erwin said enrollment in her art course climbed this year, and so far, her students have been incredibly resilient after overcoming learning disruption challenges. “When we came back the second semester last year, and we were in person, I saw a lot more growth and excitement, and that continued through this year,” Erwin said. “We have some really talented kids.” Takeaways Erwin described her feelings of excitement after learning how the project
resonated with her students. “When we were putting it in and installing it, it finally clicked to them that it was going to be on campus for this entire time,” Erwin said. “I don’t think they understood until they started seeing it installed. “I showed them the example of the fence in the park by the library and they’re like okay, you know, that’s kind of cool. But then when we started installing it, they’re like, oh, my board’s going to be out here for everyone to see for years.” Aside from building their fine arts skills, the creative endeavor has given Erwin’s students the itch to discover what else they can do to better their com-
munity. “That’s the first question I got, is ‘What else? What else can we beautify? What else can I put my stamp on? What else can I leave my legacy on?’ which I thought was neat,” Erwin said. Megan Kratka, a 10th grader at CMHS, was one of the students who participated in the fence painting project. Kratka said she learned a lot from her time in Erwin’s class and developed better painting and drawing skills and “really everything in general.” “I just really hope that we have multiple opportunities like this because it’s a really great way for everybody to come together,” she said.