St. Charles Senior Care Service Donates Wheelchairs to Costa Rica

ST. CHARLES, MO — Bruce and Kirsten Pahde, owners of a St. Charles franchise of in-home care service Right at Home, recently returned from Costa Rica where they donated dozens of wheelchairs to people in need. The trip was a partnership between their company and Free Wheelchair Mission, a faith-based organization dedicated to improving quality of life in developing nations by providing simple, cost-effective wheelchairs. Each chair is built and shipped for about $80, according to the group's webpage. But that relatively small amount of money means mobility, independence and dignity are no longer out of reach for many.

"Here in the United States, there are lots of programs to get wheelchairs," Bruce said. "There, if you don't have some money to go buy your own chair, you're out of luck."

Kristen found the lack of preventative care in general shocking. "We are so fortunate to take that for granted," she said. "When you have an infection, you go take care of it. But, there it may lead to an amputation. A lot of these people haven't left their homes in years. If they leave, they're crawling or their family members are carrying them."

Where was the first place people wanted to go with their new wheelchairs? "They would just light up and say, 'I'm going to go to church," Kristen said. "It was so moving to see their reactions and the reactions of family members. They were so grateful and we felt so honored to be part of that."

Others were eager to get back to work to support their families or just enjoy the independence of being able to leave their houses when the mood stuck them. One man they met, Jose Matilde, had worked for decades in a local sugarcane factory. At 87, he had been retired for more than 20 years. Until he got a new wheelchair, his only chance to leave his house had been by ambulance for infrequent doctors visits. "Within seconds, he was out on the street with his family taking a stroll. He had one of his grandkids sitting on his lap and the biggest smile on his face," Bruce said.

"I thought, 'This is what we're here for," Kristen added.

"There was also a young boy named Freddy whose story stands out," Bruce said. "We delivered his chair, but he didn't really understand what it was all about. Until he got out in the street and his mom showed him where to put his hands and explained that he could push the chair himself — his eyes just lit up."

"You could tell he wanted to race his older brother," Kristen said.

About 15 percent of the world's population has a disability that hinders their mobility, according to the World Health Organization. In developing countries, where there may be only one or two wheelchairs per 10,000 people, many disabled people live isolated lives, cut off from friends, family and medical services. Floods from recent hurricanes had left much of Costa Rica inundated, the Pahdes said, and elderly and disabled people unable to evacuate their homes were often stuck with water coming up to the bed.

It was a depressing situation, but one they could do their part to help fix.

Kristen has always been passionate about caring for others, starting with taking care of her grandparents as they got older. "Part of that involved hiring agencies like mine, and I just couldn't find one that lived up to the customer service that I felt people deserved," she said. "I knew I could do it better, treat employees well and provide excellent care."

So she quit a family business she had run for more than 20 years to start Right at Home.

Prior to joining the company, Bruce worked for a guardianship agency for people with developmental disabilities, and for the consumer protection division of the Illinois Attorney General's office. "I've always envisioned myself working in a helping profession in some fashion," he said.

A year and a half after Kristen opened Right at Home, things were financially stable enough for Bruce to quit his old job and sign on full time. "Since that day, I've really never gone to work in the traditional sense," he said. "The drudgery of having drag myself to work, I've never felt that."

Both Bruce and Kristen say their faith was an important motivation behind starting Right at Home and traveling to Costa Rica to donate wheelchairs. Praying with families in Costa Rica was a moving experience, Kristen said. "You could just see the spiritual movement come over everyone, even if we couldn't always understand each other's language. You could just tell that faith brought us all together. It was that spiritual bond, no matter what faith we were, that brought us all together through compassion for each other."

To learn more about Free Wheelchair Mission, or to donate, visit www.freewheelchairmission.org.

Photos via Right at Home and Free Wheelchair Mission