Shortly after the New Year began the Health Center began working with McDonough Construction to improve the way visitors and patients access the Beaver Island Rural Health Center Complex. The planning is now done and the work on retrofitting the entry doors is nearing completion. Effective June 1st all public entry doors to the Health Center will be fully ADA compliant.
“We’re delighted to be able to move forward with our “open doors” initiative,” Ann Partridge, the Center’s Managing Director, said. “The board of directors mandated the open doors project have a high priority to underscore their commitment to improving barrier-free access to the Center.” Lelie Visser, a member of the Center’s board of directors, noted, “The board periodically reviews suggestions received from patients and visitors to the Center. This past year one of the most frequent suggestions received concerned making our medical and dental entrance doors easier to open for individuals who use wheelchairs or have mobility impairments.”
The cost of the open doors project was about $11,000. A total of four doors were retrofitted with equipment to make the Center’s manual swinging doors into ADA compliant automatic doors.
A grant from the Charlevoix County Community Foundation, as well as, significant financial support from an anonymous donor, the Charlevoix State Bank, Real Estate One and members of the Center’s 1953 Society made the open doors project a reality.
The Health Center’s 1953 Society is named in honor of the 100 Island residents who, in 1953, helped to establish what was to become the Beaver Island Rural Health Center. The 1953 Society is composed of donors who have a record of generosity and consecutive giving. There are currently 130 members of the 1953 Society.
