A Flin Flon city councillor is placing high priority on wheelchair accessibility after a mishap sent him to the ER.
Coun. Ken Pawlachuk was operating a table saw at the Flin Flon Community Hall hobby shop last Thursday, Feb. 26 when he partially severed a finger.
While Pawlachuk is okay, as is apparently his finger, he said the experience highlighted the need for more wheelchair ramps at the Community Hall and other buildings.
“When they come there to pick up a guy like me with two little ambulance attendants and there’s no ramp or anything, it makes it pretty hard for them,” said Pawlachuk, a larger man who does not use a wheelchair.
“Buildings in Flin Flon, a lot of them are wheelchair accessible, but a lot of them aren’t, and we don’t expect them to be wheelchair accessible. We don’t encourage it and we should.”
Codes
Mayor Cal Huntley said wheelchair accessibility relates to building codes.
“There’s a code involved and certainly any new structures or anything that goes up have to meet the new codes,” said Huntley. “But I think what Coun. Pawlachuk is talking about is existing structures and what we can do to make them better accessible, especially our own structures.”
“That’s right,” agreed Pawlachuk, adding: “It should be something that should be second nature to us.”
With a large white bandage wrapped around his right hand, Pawlachuk was in good spirits as he attended Tuesday’s council meeting just five days after his accident.
“I think they got the finger on the right way,” he joked.
Pawlachuk said the mishap left part of his finger “kind of half detached” but he will apparently regain full use of his hand.
He encouraged people who wear bifocal glasses to be especially careful when operating rotating machinery such as a table saw.
As for his trip to the Flin Flon General Hospital, Pawlachuk had no complaints.
“It was great service. I ended up in the hospital with a surgeon and a doctor looking after me right away.”
