NeuroTalk Support Groups - Beach wheelchair `works like a charm'

NO SINKING IN THE SAND
Beach wheelchair `works like a charm'
Balloon-like wheels make access possible at N.C. coastal areas
JANNETTE PIPPIN
Daily News of Jacksonville

PINE KNOLL SHORES --Parkinson's disease has put Andy Anderson in a wheelchair, but it hasn't robbed him of a day at the beach.

Anderson recently made his first trip to the beach since needing the use of a wheelchair. And with the switch from one chair to another, he was able to stroll with his wife, Marlene, along the beach strand at the Atlantic Beach Circle.

Lightweight beach wheelchairs with balloon-like wheels maneuver easily over sand and are becoming a more frequent sight alone the shores of Bogue Banks and other waterfront areas of Carteret County.

"It works like a charm," Anderson said.

Add his weight to the motorized chair he regularly uses and it's nearly 400 pounds that would sink into the sand.

But getting to the beach or the shore shouldn't be impossible for anybody, and that's why the Carteret County Mayors' Committee for Persons with Disabilities is doing its part to promote equal access to the beach.

It recently put out a brochure listing handicapped-accessible beach and water accesses in Carteret County.

This week, it added to the county's inventory of beach wheelchairs.

With the assistance of a $3,000 grant from the Carteret Community Foundation, the group purchased three beach wheelchairs and presented one each to Fort Macon State Park and the towns of Atlantic Beach and Pine Knoll Shores.

There are now three beach wheelchairs available at Fort Macon, two at Atlantic Beach and six at Emerald Isle. And for Pine Knoll Shores, the donation gives the town its first chair.

Pine Knoll Shores Mayor Joan Lamson said it will help visitors and residents alike enjoy the shore.

"We want the beach to be open to the public, the whole public," she said.

Lamson said the chair, available at the emergency services building, can be used at the Iron Steamer beach access.

The beach wheelchairs are already a common site at the Circle in Atlantic Beach, and Mayor Trace Cooper said the town is working to make them available at all accesses.

The beach should be as accessible as any public facility, he said. "In my opinion, the public beach is a public building."

Fort Macon State Park Superintendent Jody Merritt said the park has had beach wheelchairs available to the public since 1990. The donation from the committee will replace an older one it had in service.

And he's certain it will get frequent use.

"They are well used. People love them," he said.

The Emerald Isle Board of Commissioners recently took action that renews grant agreements with the N.C. Division of Coastal Management and authorizes contracts for the construction of new wheelchair-accessible ramps to the beach at both of the town's regional accesses.

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