The City of Tybee Island and Savannah AMBUCS hope to bring more accessibility to beachgoers with the addition of eight beach wheelchairs, bringing their total to 11.
“A couple of years ago my office took over the beach wheelchair program, and you know I didn’t really know what to do with them,” said Tybee Island Police Department Code Enforcement Manager Walter Hattrich. “People would come into our office, and everybody was so grateful to have them, and I think we’ve got two or three of things, if I had a bunch of them we could do so much more.”
Hattrich reached out to Savannah AMBUCS, an organization dedicated to providing mobility and independence, and initially asked for their help in finding people who they serve.
“Those are the people that I want to bring to the beach because they need my wheelchairs when they’re hurt, so that’s what we wanted to do,” Hattrich said. “They were very gracious and they’ve decided to give us more chairs.”
Savannah AMBUCS donated almost $17,000 to the City of Tybee Island for the new chairs, and they will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
“There’s no advance notice at all, you can walk into our office or you can contact the City of Tybee Island Code Enforcement Division and my staff will take your information,” Hattrich said. “The day shift or night shift guys, they will bring the chair to you. The city is also starting up a new software where you will be able to reserve equipment, it’s not quite ready yet will probably into the beginning of the new year we will have that ability.”
Mike McCann, the vice president of Savannah AMBUCS, said they were excited to bring this opportunity for those who might want to come to the beach for vacation, but were previously unable.
“I don’t think a family vacation to the beach and especially not water access is everybody’s option,” McCann said. “Especially if they’re chair-bound, let alone the opportunity to get into the water.”
Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions echoed the sentiment, recalling a conversation she had years ago about beach access and mobility.
“The person I was talking to said, people are always talking about helping permanently disabled people, helping them do things that our abled bodies can do,” Sessions said. “We are temporarily abled, it only takes a second, a moment, to change all of that, and I think we take that for granted, and this opportunity is wonderful.”
The donated wheelchairs from the AMBUCS will ship Friday, Hattrich said, and he predicts that in a week and a half, or two weeks, the beach wheelchairs will fully stocked and people will be able to get them by calling 912-472-5089. Hattrich also said they're hoping to expand the number of chairs to ultimately have 15.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Tybee Island and Savannah AMBUCS partner to provide beach wheelchairs
MEET OUR PARTNER
Today’s story comes from our partner, Savannah Morning News. Savannah Morning News provides daily news coverage on Coastal Georgia. Visit them at savannahnow.com or on Twitter @SavannahNow.
If you have any feedback or questions about our partnerships, you can contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams via email at nicole.williams@ajc.com.