EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — El Pasoan Rico Duran is thankful for the help after Pima Medical Institute students and faculty donated and installed a ramp at his home.
Duran was involved in a motorcycle accident almost four years ago. The crash caused him to to have his leg amputated, making him wheelchair-bound.
“I was really depressed at home. I was trying to make the best out of it, but I couldn’t get out of that deep hole that I was stuck in, so I reached out and I enrolled myself into school (Pima) and I actually found a lot of people that are really, really helping me out, that I’m actually getting out of that hole,” Duran said.
Faculty and staff noticed Duran around school and wanted to connect with him to see if he was OK and getting the proper help.
“And so we went out and looked at his home and saw that he needed a ramp because he was literally just jumping down steps to get out of his house into his wheelchair,” said Katherine Lawson, who is on the faculty at Pima Medical Institute with the OTA Program.
Things got really going when Lawson’s neighbor approached her, wanting to donate a ramp.
Lawson accepted the donation, knowing exactly who was in need, almost like it fell into place.
Lawson and another faculty member at the Pima Medical Institute told students in the Occupational Therapy Program about Duran’s plight and they were ready to help.
“Hearing that he hadn’t even been able to enter his house comfortably or safely really hit home because home is our safe place and not even being able to get in there comfortably,” Javier Ortega, a student in the OTA program at Pima Medical Institute, said.
Duran said now having the ramp is a lot easier to go in and out of his home.
“I don’t think it’s anything we’ll ever forget because seeing him every day and seeing the smile that just being able to get inside his house, that we we were able to do that by something as simple as installing a ramp for him, makes it all worth it.” Ortega said.
