'We did what we could do': After weeks of waiting, Milwaukee bar owner's wheelchair lift is fixed

On Thursday, Jewel Currie glided onto his wheelchair lift and descended to the ground level of his building for the first time in 15 days.

He had several doctor's appointments on his calendar, a handful of errands to run, but, most of all, he longed to get outside for a breath of fresh air.

Last week, the Public Investigator team reported the story of 69-year-old Currie and his broken wheelchair lift. The owner of the beloved Milwaukee bar Garfield's 502 found himself stuck on the second floor of his building after the lift's circuit board went out the day before Thanksgiving.

With the lift fixed and his story shared widely throughout the community, Currie says he hopes his experience will provide more visibility to the daily challenges of disabled people. For the businesses and manufacturers that provide the products, he hopes his experience highlights the physical and emotional toll of losing access to assistive technology.

"I just hope that, in situations like this, they'll be more cordial and understanding," he said in an interview Monday.

Currie was partially paralyzed five years ago after breaking his neck in a fall, leaving him mostly unable to use his legs and hands.

His nurse, Demetrice Owens, contacted the Public Investigator team on Nov. 27 to share that Currie had been stuck in his apartment for nearly a week without clarity about when the wheelchair lift would be fixed.

Public Investigator contacted the installation company, Access, and the lift's manufacturer, Savaria, about Currie's situation.

Access owner Jon Tevz told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the delays were not intentional, but a result of the machine's replacement control board being shipped from Canada. He said when Access initially ordered the replacement part on Nov. 27, Savaria told them it was too late in the day and they would try to ship the product the next day.

In an interview a few days later, Allan Thompson, Savaria's director of sales, said the company would do its best "to push out parts and get this repair done."

According to disability rights experts, Currie's situation was reflective of a broader national issue: disabled people who often find themselves stuck as a consequence of faulty assistive technology and nationwide shortages of replacement parts.

Experts said delays in repairs began during the COVID-19 pandemic and have since worsened with some people waiting weeks or even months for a contractor to obtain the necessary parts to fix the technology.

Repair of wheelchair lift involved multiple delays over several weeks

Last Tuesday, a few days after the Journal Sentinel's call with Savaria, the replacement control board arrived, ahead of schedule.

But although Access technicians were able to replace the old control board, they informed Currie's nurse that the system still needed a power supply that would not arrive until later in the week.

Owens called Access several times that day to get updates about when the repairs would be completed.

The following day, Currie had a neurology appointment. His son, who lives in Minnesota, paid three people to help carry him down the stairs. It was the third time Currie had to be carried up and down from his apartment since the lift broke.

Access returned Thursday to complete the repairs. Replacing the control board and power supply cost about $1,800, according to Currie. As of Monday, he was still waiting for his final bill from Access.

In an interview Monday, Tevz said that, after evaluation, Currie's lift breakdown was likely a consequence of a power surge that blew out the control board.

He recounted dozens of phone calls and emails his company sent to their Savaria representative to accelerate the timeline for getting the replacement part to Currie.

"We have no control over that and we have no control over parts," he said. "We received a lot of negative feedback from this, but we did nothing wrong here. We did what we could do."

He said the process of repairing a system like Currie's was more complex than people can imagine, as companies like Access have to call the manufacturer and then wait for the them to test and troubleshoot the new system before shipment.

Additionally, Tevz said Currie needed to ensure that the lift was receiving regular maintenance checks. Since the lift was installed in 2018, the company has pushed Currie to acquire an annual servicing contract, meaning an employee will come back quarterly to check for mechanical issues.

The annual cost for the service is about $800 per year.

"Most of lifts go up four feet, or, you know, six feet at the most. Jewel's goes up a whole story, and so that's very rare because most most people can't afford that," Tevz said. "So, we're gonna talk to him about this because, you know, maintenance needs to be done."

When asked if the control board break was an issue that could have been identified by a regular maintenance check, Tevz confirmed that a variety of problems could have caused the system to die, including inclement weather or an unusually high surge of electricity. Even if a technician had come to check the system for repairs, there was a small possibility for the control board to burn out unexpectedly.

Now that the system is fixed, Currie plans to establish a servicing contract with Access.

However, he and Owens remain disappointed with the treatment they received.

"It shouldn't have taken us going to these extremes to make something happen. We called numerous times, never could get the owner on the phone. So I was very shocked that you guys were able to speak to him," Owens said.

Since the lift first broke down, Owens said Currie's physical condition had worsened. Without his wheelchair and the ability to move around, his body became more susceptible to bed sores and skin breakdown, he started to have trouble keeping his food down and his mood had worsened, she said.

When asked why she chose to contact Public Investigator for help, Owens said, "If we don't advocate for disabled people, then they're in the dark. They are left alone. If I wouldn't have called for Jewel, who else would have been there to pick up those pieces?"

Tamia Fowlkes is a Public Investigator reporter. You can reach Tamia at 414-224-2193 or tfowlkes@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @tamiafowlkes.

About Public Investigator

Government corruption. Corporate wrongdoing. Consumer complaints. Medical scams. Public Investigator is a new initiative of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and its sister newsrooms across Wisconsin. Our team wants to hear your tips, chase the leads and uncover the truth. We'll investigate anywhere in Wisconsin. Send your tips to watchdog@journalsentinel.com or call 414-319-9061. You can also submit tips at jsonline.com/tips.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: After weeks of waiting, Milwaukee bar owner's wheelchair lift is fixed