Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 26, 1992 TAG: 9203260120
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Bryant, 84, of Christiansburg, had it more than 20 years. As arthritis in her legs and back grew worse, she struggled to get in and out of it.
But now, with the help of a friend, she has a new chair - one of those lift chairs that automatically takes her up or down at the push of a button.
"I'm tickled to death by it," she said. "I've been wanting to get one for a long time."
Without the help of Mike Barber, a porter at Inland Motors in Radford, she probably would still be struggling with her old chair.
At the push of a button, Bryant can recline her new chair and a footstool automatically lifts her feet, and she can be gently pushed forward out of the seat.
"I can get up without straining," she said. "He's a Christian person, you know; he doesn't rob you or overcharge you," she said of Barber. "I don't know what I've done in my life to deserve someone like him."
She has outlived her family, including two daughters. One died as an infant in the early 1920s and her second died seven years ago at 61.
Barber, who moved to Christiansburg from Michigan three years ago, said he does jobs, such as plumbing or tiling, for the elderly. He charges them what they can afford. Sometimes he'll pay for the materials himself, he said.
After being referred to Bryant, he has done a lot of work around her house for free, including stove repairs and some carpeting. He plans to extend her telephone cord so she can have the phone next to her new chair.
Barber, 29, made countless calls to companies trying to find out if a lift chair would be covered by health insurance.
No one seemed to agree. He was told a new chair, which costs $900 or more, was covered by Medicare - then was told it wasn't.
A Medicare spokeswoman in Richmond said coverage depended on an individual's needs and required a letter from a doctor. Only the lift mechanism, not the chair, was covered, she said.
However, one chair company told Barber it wouldn't accept Medicare coverage, but would take payments of $25 a month for three years - after which they could get the chair, he said.
Meanwhile, he had put the word out that he was raising money to buy a chair for Bryant. Barber even called his relatives in Michigan and they sent donations.
But he didn't want to take all the credit. Velma Nester at Inland Motors also helped raise money, he said. And it was Nester who saw an ad in the paper for a lift chair for $700.
Barber called the seller in Roanoke and asked if she'd take $500. She said yes and the chair was his.
Randy Smith, maintenance supervisor at Inland, gave him the go-ahead to pick up the chair with a company truck.
In all, it took him three weeks to get the money and the chair, Barber said.
Bryant, who was born in the house she lives in now, worked as a cook around the New River Valley and tried to maintain her home.
"I worked like a dog. That's what's wrong with me now," she said with a laugh.
Barber and Bryant were introduced about nine months ago through Willie Jones, who volunteers for the Meals-on-Wheels program, and they became good friends.
Barber, his wife, Terry, and two children, Amanda, 4, and Michael, 10, often visit Bryant. They take her out to dinner sometimes and run errands for her.
"I don't have a whole lot of money," he said. "But I'm able to do the work and I know how."
His reward for helping others will come "when I leave this world," Barber said.
by CNB