By now, many in the community have heard of David’s Chair and know it offers people of limited mobility access to the Oregon coastline which is usually inaccessible to them. However, some may not know that a chair is available for checkout in Florence, but volunteer help is needed to keep the program available.
Named for its developer David Hatrick, who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2017, the twin-track chair can get into beach areas unreachable by conventional powered chairs.
Northern Operations Manager Jeff Kallevig was at the Florence Area Community Coalition meeting May 1 to introduce the chair and recruit volunteers.
By phone after the meting, Kallevig explained more about the program and what it takes to keep it going.
Asked how often the chair is used, Kallevig said it’s checked out almost every weekend.
“The fixed location chairs are checked out for two hours at a time,” he said, “and depending on the location and whatever we can coordinate with the volunteers in that area determines when the chair is available. Right now, we have a limited number of volunteers in Florence so the chair is available for one 2-hour shift on Friday, one on Saturday and Sunday from 10 to noon. As we gather more volunteers, the volunteer coordinator in Florence would ask to have more shifts made available on our website in reservations. We’re in the market for volunteers.”
He said the FACC meeting generated some volunteer interest but the need for volunteers still exists. He said most Florence area volunteers didn’t come from David’s Chair presentations, but were simply folks who saw it on Facebook and wanted to help. He said that while training is provided, the local volunteer corps is “just a big-hearted group of folks who wanted to help.”
To volunteer, contact Kallevig by email at jeffk@davidschair.org
Behind the scenes
Providing multi-terrain mobility chairs for people isn’t cheap or easy and a lot goes on in the background in order to keep providing the service free-of-charge.
Kallevig, a resident of Pacific City, said he got involved shortly after being introduced to the program.
“I got hooked on it and said ‘this is something that I really want to make happen,” he said, noting that the David’s Chair headquarters is in White City, Ore., and is working to get the chairs into fixed locations along the Oregon Coast and inland.
“That’s what I cam onboard to do is manage those relationships in those locations along the coast,” he said, noting that his area is north of Florence. “We have one location in the I-5 corridor, we have one tow-and-go location in Tigard and we’ll have another tow-and-go in Eugene. We have a couple more communities on the coast we’re having conversations with about possibly growing into their areas as well.”
Asked where the chairs come from and how the program is funded, Kallevig said the chairs are purchased from Action Trackchair in Minnesota.
The Trackchair website lists the chairs for $19,400 each. Kallevig said the company’s chairs work best in the northwest and make up most of the coastal fleet.
“We do grant-writing and fundraising to buy the chairs and secure the hardware, if it’s a trailer or a shed that goes with each chair, and we partner with several organizations,” he said. “One of those key partnerships is with Oregon Parks Forever, the Oregon Parks Foundation and they’ve done some grant-writing and secured some grants for us in funding our expansion.” He said several yearly fundraisers take place in the Medford area to fund hardware, personnel, travel and other expenses.
“The important thing for us is that the user gets to use the chair for free,” he said. “In order to provide that, there are three things we need in each community; We need a place to house the chair and keep it charged, we need volunteers to check the chair in and out and the third- we ask each community to do some fundraising for us.” He said the agreement in Florence is $5,000 for chair maintenance, reservation administration and related costs.
David’s Chair also partners with the Lane County Parks and Recreation Department and are funding the chair through an accessibility grant.
The chairs
Kallevig said the controls are similar to that of a regular powered chair, but a secondary control allows another person to guide the chair from behind if needed.
“If someone using the chair is unable to drive it themselves, some can walk along behind them and control the chair. That control can also be moved around to the left side of the chair if someone can only use their left hand.”
To reserve one, go to davidschair.org and scroll to the “request fixed location chair” at the bottom.
Once some forms have been filled out, a volunteer coordinator will work with them to check the chair out. Volunteer coordinators are trained to give instructions and safety information about the chair. Kallevig noted that volunteers cannot help someone in or out of the chair and they must be able to do so themselves.
“They get a little briefing and they can take it out on the beach from there,” he said, adding that the access point opens up to a long, beautiful stretch of beach. The chair is meant for use at that access only and cannot be taken to other areas such as the jetties or local parks.
A “tow-and-go” chair can be checked out in Gold Beach for a full day, but the Florence chair needs to stay near the location where it’s stored.
In Florence, the chair is next to the beach access at Driftwood Shores but people are asked not to contact the resort with questions.
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