GUEST ARTICLE
Dream Becomes a Mission
MAINE ACCESSIBILITY
CORPORATION: SERVING PEOPLE (AND ANIMALS) WITH DISABILITIES. By Ardis Mayo
42 • MAINE SENIORS
J
eremy Polk, founder and President of Maine Accessibilit y Corporation (or MAC), understands the grief of losing personal freedom when you can no longer climb a flight of stairs, or navigate a sloping landscape to your driveway. He grew up with a mother who used a wheelchair and struggled with dangerously steep ramps to access their home. He knew he could build a better one. As a young man, Polk’s original plan was to service lifts and ramps
installed by others. Beginning as an apprentice in the mid-1990’s, he worked 4000 hours to qualify to take the elevator license exam, a standard that is maintained by MAC today. In the process, Polk’s vision grew to include a dream for a more accessible world for everyone. He knew he would need to do more than just service chair lifts. Maine Accessibility Corporation was born of that dream. In August 2000, Polk and his friend, Stephen Cannon, began installing ramps and stairlifts in the
PHOTOS: ARDIS MAYO
When a