Making a Difference in People's Lives

Betty Dupree is a hospice patient served by Alacare's Florence branch. Her declining health had made it necessary for her to use a wheelchair to move about. She lives with her daughter, but Ms. Dupree's daughter is herself in poor health and neither is able to drive. The home did not have a wheelchair ramp, so not only was it extremely difficult for Ms. Dupree to get to her doctor's appointments, she wasn't even able to get outside for some fresh air.

The family had limited resources, but the youth group at the church that Alacare employee Gene Ann Blankenship attends - First United Methodist Church of Sheffield - was looking for a summer ministry project and volunteered to build a wheelchair ramp.

Finding money to pay for materials was the next step. Alacare social worker Sandy Howard applied for and was granted the maximum $350 from the Hospice & Home Health Fund of Alabama (HHHFA). That covered the cost of most of the materials, and the First United Methodist Church donated the remaining amount.

Now Ms. Dupree is able to get to necessary medical appointments much more easily, and she is able to go outside and enjoy the summer weather.

Alacare volunteer coordinator Alan Jordan, who was instrumental in contacting the church, says that Ms. Dupree and her daughter are extremely appreciative of everything that the Alacare staff, the HHHFA, and the church have done for them. "These little things that most of us take for granted are exactly the things that some of our patients struggle with and appreciate the most," Alan says.