SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP —
In just four hours Saturday morning, a team of Cristal Global Plant 2 employees enriched the lives of area hospice patients, both current and future.
About three dozen employees gathered in the St. John School parking lot in Saybrook Township to assemble the components for modular accessibility ramps. The components will be stored by Hospice of the Western Reserve and assembled at patients’ homes as needed by Faith In Action Volunteer Caregivers of Ashtabula County.
“These are going to stay in Ashtabula County,” said Cathy Westcott of Hospice of the Western Reserve. “These will go to home-care patients and will really impact their quality of life.”
Westcott said there are about 60 Ashtabula County home-care patients receiving hospice care. Some are in wheelchairs or have other mobility issues that require an accessibility ramp. A ramp thus opens up opportunities they otherwise would not be able to access.
“This is a whole new thing for (Ashtabula County’s hospice),” Westcott said. “We’ve put people in touch with someone whenever they needed a ramp, but we never before this opportunity.”
Because of the modular construction, the ramps can be adapted to just about any house with the addition of posts and rails. Up to five ramps can be built with the components that the employees assembled on Saturday. Faith in Action will store the components until hospice has a need.
The project was suggested by David Baranski, a project engineer at the Ashtabula Township plant. He has volunteered with Hospice of the Western Reserve for the past four years and, after hearing about the need, suggested the volunteers adopt it. Dave Kelly of Faith in Action Caregivers provided the plans and oversaw construction; Baranski and Jim DiDonato took the lead on the Cristal Global side.
Baranski said Cristal Global Plant 2 provided about $3,000 from its community projects fund to purchase the materials. The Home Depot, Old Fashioned Lawn Care and Sherwin Williams participated, as well.
Scott Strayer, site director for Cristal Global, said employees of each plant do a community project every year. Plant 1’s project, refurbishing an art room at the new St. John School, is slated for later this month. He said the employees are especially strong on helping with education projects because that eventually provides the next generation of well-educated, skilled employees.
“It’s about Cristal being part of the community,” Strayer said. “Anything we can do to help support Ashtabula County, whether it’s getting involved with the (Community Development Corporation) or Growth Partnership, that’s what we’re about.”
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Cristal Global employees assist hospice patients
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