Greek Orthodox Church in Prince George, BC, Improves Community Access Through a New Lift
As a director of the Greek community at the Greek Orthodox Church in Prince George, Doug Jeffery understood there were people who hadn’t attended church for over two years because they couldn’t access the building, and wanted to remedy this and improve access to the space.
Jeffery’s wife has a mobility disability, and with his previous experience coaching Special Olympic skiing, Jeffery is keenly aware of the limitations society puts on people with various levels of disability and lack of solutions in place to provide freedom.
At his own church, he saw what he described as “dreadful access” and wanted to improve it for not only church attendees, but for all community members that use and rent the public hall for public use. When Jeffery heard about the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) BC Accessibility Grant, he saw it as an opportunity to improve access to the building.
After initially having the building rated for accessibility with Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification™ (RHFAC) in August 2018, they received the grant. This grant, along with funding from the Government of Canada HRDC allowed them to begin work on improving access.
The Greek Orthodox Church installed a wheelchair mobility lift inside the building, added a flat covered roof over the exit steps to block snow and rain, and extended the entry vestibule to increase entry space and have room to maneuver mobility aids.
“The entire project has been focused on how to make access to the building as simple and safe as possible, 24/7, and all year long including in snow, ice, or rain,” a representative of the church said.
When deciding what kind of lift to include in the project, the team engaged in consultation to ensure the upgrades were done to the best of their ability. Jeffery, and other directors, visited two other buildings that had successfully installed a lift, one of which was a church, similarly designed to the Greek Orthodox Church.
“At the time I didn’t know a lot about lifts and I saw it as a necessity to see some sites before we made decisions,” Jeffery explained.
Further, Jeffery consulted with a few lift manufacturers to get insight on how the lift would be supported by the company after the fact to ensure it could be repaired if something were to malfunction, spoke with advocates for accessibility in the Prince George community, and, as he lives with someone with a disability, discussed the upgrades with her every step of the way.
“Living with someone who has a disability, I know that the support is somewhat patchwork. There is not a lot of support to tell you how to deal with the future if your disability worsens, or anything like that.
"I wanted it to be inclusive of helping everyone,”
Jeffery remarked.
Since the upgrades, Jeffery has seen renters of the community space use the lift regularly. Jeffery explained that “this is a nice perk because it tells you that things are operating the way they should. It’s now just normal.”
Other users have commented how well the lift and other accessibility upgrades are integrated into the building architecture. Jeffery remarked that this was very gratifying, and the contractor worked very hard to make the upgrades fit into the existing look of the church.
Jeffery said that going forward, the church would like to upgrade the restrooms next, then determine what to do subsequently using the report from RHF from the initial rating process.
“Watching individuals use the lift with ease, is definitely the most rewarding thing possible. Seeing the project lift people up emotionally, physically, and mentally,” a representative of the church said. “Smiles, hugs of gratitude for all the hard work. Working with people that truly want to make a difference has also been extremely rewarding. Watching trades people go that extra mile to do excellent work, was a wonderful experience.”
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this Program from the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Social Development & Poverty Reduction.
