A Visit to a Senior Residence for Deaf and OHL Folks
By Cheryl Heppner
Editor: I'm surprised that senior residences that cater to people
with hearing loss haven't cropped up all over the place. It seems that
such facilities would be in great demand!
There are a few here and there. Cheryl Heppner reports on the Water
Tower View in Milwaukee. You are welcome to reproduce this article, but
please be sure to credit NVRC (See notice at the end of the article.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Thursday, May 17, 2007, I flew to Milwaukee with Mary Kay Kelley
("Kay" to those of us at NVRC). Our quest was to visit Water
Tower View, an affordable housing facility designed specifically for
seniors who are deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind. Water Tower View
is located in Greenfield, Wisconsin and it is sponsored and supported by
Southeastern Wisconsin Deaf Senior Citizens, Inc.
After arriving in Milwaukee, Kay and I had lunch with Erich Schwenker,
Judy Leiterman, and Katie Voss of Cardinal Capital Management. Erich,
Katie, and Judy had recently visited NVRC, where they met with some of
our staff and Board members. Cardinal specializes in housing projects
for people with disabilities, working with nonprofit partners to create
a comprehensive development plan for housing projects.
NVRC''s interest in Water Tower View and potentially working with
Cardinal Capital Management resulted from our increasing concern about
the lack of long term care and rehabilitation facilities that meet the
needs of people who are deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind. Although
Water Tower View does not provide these kinds of services, it is a
wonderful facility with many attractive features.
Kay and I were impressed with how the planners of Water Tower View
made unique adaptations to meet communication needs, and how the team
continues to adapt and improve the facility. Among the things we liked
were:
- The apartments have an open floor plan, which makes it possible for
occupants to better see each other.
- All apartments have an alerting system to provide information when
there is a phone call, or someone is at the door. There is also a strobe
light alarm in each apartment to alert for smoke within the apartment,
and a strobe light alarm to alert for fire anywhere in the facility.
- To prevent the fan in stove hood from being accidentally left on, it
has been wired to the light in the stove hood. Likewise, the switch for
the fan in the bathroom and the switch for the garbage disposal is
transparent and lights up when either of these is on.
- The kitchen cabinets, originally intended to be white, were changed to
oak, and other changes were made to make areas high contrast for those
who also have vision impairments.
- The parking garage under the building has a carbon monoxide detector
system that, if triggered, will cause a steel door to open and a
powerful fan to begin blowing in fresh air.
- At the building entrance, visitors can choose from TTY, videophone or
regular telephone to communicate with a resident and gain entry.
Water Tower View has 45 apartments on three floors. The lobby is
beautiful and there's a very nice community room. An outdoor patio area
gives residents a place to get together for barbecues, with an
underground gas pipeline attached to the grill to save the trouble of
lighting it with a flame. Apartments have one or two bedrooms, and
people with limited mobility get priority for the ground floor
apartments. One-bedroom apartments have either a bathtub or walk-in
shower. Two-bedrooms apartments have one or two baths; there's a floor
plan that gives a bathtub for one and a walk-in shower for the other.
Approximately eight residents have dogs, and there is a room to bathe
dogs that can be reached by going through the parking garage.
Kay and I learned that 50% of the residents are deaf, 45% hard of
hearing, and the rest are hearing. Manager Carol Comp said that everyone
gets along very well. Water Tower View is in an area with several other
senior apartment buildings nearby. A group of deaf people at Water Tower
View regularly get together to play cards against a group of hearing
people, some of whom are from the nearby apartments. Two churches with
deaf ministries are located not far from Water Tower View. A bus comes
each week to take residents shopping for food, and on the first and
third Wednesdays of the month they can ride the bus to the mall.
For Kay, this trip offered an opportunity to reconnect with an old
friend. Carol Comp was one of her oral school classmates in Milwaukee
until her freshman year of high school, after which she transferred to
the Wisconsin School for the Deaf. Kay and Carol met again at Gallaudet
University. As the manager of the complex, Carol lives at Water Tower
View, and she is on call 24 hours for emergencies. She clearly loves her
job.
There's a waiting list for Water Tower View. To move into the
apartments, at least one member of the household must be 55 years of age
or older. The household income must not exceed the limit set by the IRS
Section 42 Tax Credit Program, and the household must be able to show a
good credit rating. We learned that the average age of residents is 83.
Visiting Water Tower View was a valuable experience and our hosts
were not only very gracious but patient in answering our many questions.
We returned with a much greater appreciation and understanding -- and
lots of good new ideas!
~~~~~
(c)2007 by Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Persons (NVRC), 3951 Pender Drive, Suite 130, Fairfax, VA 22030;
www.nvrc.org. 703-352-9055 V, 703-352-9056 TTY, 703-352-9058 Fax. You do
not need permission to share this information, but please be sure to
credit NVRC.
