Pat Olive loves to fish.
He loves it so much that he won’t let an inconvenience like being in a wheelchair stop him from getting out on the water.
Pat has multiple sclerosis, and has been in a wheelchair for about 30 years.
“I don’t let it get me down,” he said.
With help from Minakwa Lodge on Lake Mattagami in Gogama, Pat and his wife Elaine can still enjoy their favourite pastime.
Rejeanne de Blois, owner of Minakwa Lodge, adjusted one of the cabins at the camping facility to make it wheelchair-friendly.
“(Management at Minakwa Lodge will) do anything we ask for,” Pat said. “They just bend over backwards.”
The ramp installed outside a cabin at Minakwa Lodge makes it possible for people in wheelchairs to enjoy outdoor activities like fishing and camping.
De Blois tore up part of a flower garden to install a ramp so Pat could get to the door of his cabin without having to go over a step. She also put in a bar on the wall of the bathroom, and installed patio stones from the cabin to the dock, so Pat wouldn’t have to roll through the sand.
Both Pat and Elaine said they were blown away by the hospitality they received from de Blois and her family.
“They’re fantastic people,” Elaine said.
The de Blois’ son drives from Gogama to Sudbury to pick up the Olives, and brings them home after their trip, so they don’t have to go through the hassle of renting a Handi-Transit bus.
“All it costs is the gas,” Pat said.
When Elaine and Pat head out this August, it will be their third trip to Minakwa Lodge.
If we had our way, it’s where we’d be living.
Elaine Olive
“It’s the best place we’ve gone,” Elaine said. “If we had our way, it’s where we’d be living.”
The lodge supplies the Olives with a boat and motor, so they just need to bring their fishing gear and life jackets.
Elaine said she and Pat have caught pickerel, bass, perch and pike on the lake.
She said they used to try to catch their limit on every trip, but now they fish for the fun of it.
Pat added: “I just go to get away from here.”
When the Olives are not on the water, they will often tour the campground, build campfires, and meet other campers.
They keep in touch with one particular family they met at the lodge through regular phone calls and webcam chats.
Since Minakwa Lodge adjusted a cabin to suit Pat, another customer in a wheelchair has also used it.
“She was pretty happy with the cabin as well,” Chantal Hebert, a manager at Minakwa Lodge, said.
Now that the lodge has a wheelchair-accessible cabin, they can readily accommodate more customers.
“If ever we have other customers that are in a wheelchair, or need that kind of facility, we’re ready for them,” Hebert said.
If you have an interesting travel story you would like to share, e-mail reporter Jenny Jelen at [email protected] or phone 673-5667 ext. 377.
