The Ocean Grove community is helping make a man’s home more accessible while in the hospital.
Geoffrey James has been in hospital for more than 10 weeks and has lived in Ocean Grove since 1973 after he was in an accident that resulted in paraplegia and shoulder damage a year before.
Neighbour Mary Merritt joined forces with a builder constructing a house next door to Mr James and the Ocean Grove community to make his home more easily accessible while he is in hospital.
“He can’t come home with the bathroom the way it is anymore, and he’s no longer capable of coping with it,” she said.
“The builder who’s building a house next door has put his team in there and at his own expense, to do all the structural work.
“We have since pulled out his bathroom, toilet and laundry and we’ve turned it into one room, moved doors so it’s much easier access, widened other doors and here we are.”
Ms Merritt said Mr James had been a very proud man who had managed his “home himself” and rarely accepted help from anyone.
“He’s had to accept some care, although he feels that there are a lot more people who have a lot more needs than he does, and that’s why he knocked it back until now,” she said.
“He felt that we shouldn’t do it, but finally had to come to the understanding that if he wanted to come home, he was going to have to accept it, which he has.”
Ms Merritt said she and her husband had become close with Mr James, who was very liked in the community and wanted to help him while he was in the hospital.
“He would often wheel past us in his wheelchair, we got to speak to him that way and gradually got to know each,” she said.
“He fought going to hospital because, he said, ‘when you people go to hospital, you’re in for a week. When I go to hospital, I’m in for a month minimum’.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Mr James’ son, Dan James, to help pay for the renovations. To donate, visit gofund.me/d9405b7a
