Going above and beyond the call of duty is something our partners at Cape Coral Plumbing are used to doing for Builders Care. Our latest home repair project for Paula Entwistle, 57 year-old long-time foster mom, and her family, definitely proved to be much bigger than our team intended.
The Entwistle family consists of Paula, her 2 adopted children and her aging mother. Paula whole-heartedly dedicates a great amount of time to caring for her family. Her daughter Brianna, 13, has several medical disabilities including cerebral palsy that left her with brain damage and blindness. Brianna is confined to her wheelchair and cannot speak or walk. Paula is her full time caregiver and lives off the small subsidy provided for her and her adopted children. Her 24-year-old son, Shawn, recently returned home when he lost his job. Shawn is terminally ill and was not expected to live past the age of 5. Her mother, 84, has medical issues that most recently landed her in the hospital. Paula also has two other adopted sons; one lives in a group home for adults with disabilities in Fort Myers and another who is an adult and lives in Indianapolis.
The bathroom in the home is ill-equipped and Paula is forced to carry Brianna into the bathroom each and every night. The existing ramp located at the only exit accessible in a wheelchair is too steep and is dangerous for Brianna and Paula to use daily when coming in and out from Brianna’s school and other family activities. The home is small, and recently when Shawn moved back home, Paula gave up her bedroom and now sleeps in the living room on the couch. Despite her struggles, Paula wouldn’t have it any other way.
With the help of Meridian Construction, Nilles Design and Cape Coral Plumbing, Builders Care is redesigning the bathroom for handicap accessibility. Partners, Castle Harbour Homes and Vulcan Materials already installed a brand new concrete wheelchair ramp at the entrance of the home, so Paula can get Brianna into the home safely. While working in the bathroom, volunteers realized that some of the pipe was bad and they had to replace more than 30 LF of pipe. This meant cutting up several square feet of concrete and digging up mounds of dirt before laying new pipe. Our friends at Cape Coral Plumbing didn’t miss a beat and signed on to finish what had to be done at no charge.
People like Paula Entwistle, a foster mom to special needs children, and the team at Cape Coral Plumbing, inspire us. How will you inspire?
