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Disabled rights advocate found dead in house

BY TRACEY DUGUAY [email protected] Disabled activist Joanne Nother died trapped in the wheelchair that was supposed to bring her independence and freedom.
BY TRACEY DUGUAY

Disabled activist Joanne Nother died trapped in the wheelchair that was supposed to bring her independence and freedom.

Joanne Nother?s personal care worker knew she was dead as soon as he opened the door because the smoke was so thick and had filled the entire house, located at 2159 Laurier St.
There is speculation by people close to her that Nother?s wheelchair, which she only had for a couple of weeks, malfunctioned and caught on fire.
Nother?s personal support worker, who asked to remain anonymous, arrived at her New Sudbury home around 3:30 pm Sunday.

?I opened the door (to Nother?s house) and it was just black and I couldn?t see anything. It was smoke obviously because I couldn?t breathe,? the support worker explains.

?I ran out of the house and called 9-1-1 from my cell phone.?

The person knew right away Nother was dead because the smoke was so thick and had filled the entire house, which is located at 2159 Laurier St.
The support worker says he?s not sure exactly what happened, but he suspects since Nother did not smoke, ?it involved her chair.?

The support worker says he overheard fire officials at the scene saying they found the woman in the bathroom.

?People who are in wheelchairs are very concerned. They?re scared. I mean, this is their life, that?s what they rely on and if this is going to start to happen, then there?s a very big problem,? says the support worker.

Greater Sudbury deputy fire chief Marc Leduc says the provincial fire marshal?s office, which is called in whenever there?s a fire fatality, is
continuing their investigation.

NOTHER
He can?t release many details, but confirms when fire crews arrived at around 3:35 pm Sunday, they found the entire house filled with smoke.
?All the damage, in fact, was smoke damage,? Leduc says. ?There is no structural damage to the home.?

James Allen, an investigator with the fire marshal?s office, cautions that the victim of the fire hasn?t even been officially identified, even through Nother?s family and friends have confirmed it.

He expects a positive identification, using dental records, will happen shortly.

Allen understands the concerns of Nother?s family and the far-reaching implications to the community at large. He says his office is putting a ?rush? on all aspects of the investigation.

?We?re trying to get answers fast,? Allen says, adding that they have no reason at this point to suspect foul play.

It will probably be about three weeks before any conclusive evidence or results are publicly released.

Until that time, disabled people who use wheelchairs, and their family and friends, will have to wait to find out whether there?s any potential fire or smoke risk associated with their assistive devices.

Like Nother, Rachel Proulx is afflicted with MS and spends most of the day in her wheelchair. She says her friend was very cautious when it came to having anything flammable in her house because she lived alone.

?Joanne was an advocate for the disabled and she would not want this to happen to anyone else.

?I?m really concerned this may get swept under the carpet because no one is going to want to take liability for it.?

Proulx says she thinks disabled people have the right to know they?re ?potentially sitting on a time bomb.?

Northern Life has learned the manufacturer of Nother?s wheelchair has been sued previously in the United States after it was alleged that defective wiring on its wheelchairs caused the deaths and injuries of several people.

An American newspaper reports the company settled a $7-million lawsuit in 2002 after a 65-year-old quadriplegic woman was badly burned after her wheelchair caught on fire.

The company issued a recall for all of the wheelchairs it manufactured over a 12-year period.

However, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) database, which logs reports companies must file after they receive a complaint about one of their products that resulted in serious harm or death, there were still concerns about the power wheelchairs being documented in 2004.

Power wheelchairs are comprised of two batteries that generate 24-volts of power, lubricated with hydraulic oil, which spark like a car, and the
plastic and foam used in the seats are very flammable.

Proulx says she thinks there?s something very wrong with the fact that ?everything I?m sitting on is flammable.?

Dan Noel, a service technician who has fixed wheelchairs since 1988, says the plastic used to form the base of the seats in some wheelchairs is extremely flammable and the smoke is highly toxic.

?I used to do a lot of custom seating and I used a torch to bend and curve it. If you went too close, it would ignite and keep burning until you put it out. There?s also very, very harmful fumes, which are pretty potent.?

Proulx says, ?The potential is extremely scary because people are going to get frantic with this and rightfully so because I?m basically sitting in what could become my casket.?

Proulx explains that when a disabled person is in self-managed care, the province only covers six hours a day with a personal support worker. The six hours isn?t worked consecutively, but is split up into about three or four shifts through the day.

?When (the personal support worker) left Joanne at 12:30, she was at the table in her wheelchair going through some newspapers or flyers. He was scheduled to return at 3:30 pm.?

This is why Proulx is so certain Nother died in her wheelchair. Only one personal support worker was assigned to her and when that person left Nother, she was out of bed and in her chair.

?It was the chair. She was sitting on the chair. She was captive in the chair. Even if she had been able to throw herself out of the chair, she was tied to it with a belt. There was no escaping for her.?

Add that to the fact that there was no structural damage to the house and that Nother was found in the bathroom, according to her personal support worker, it all adds up, Proulx says.

?Once a fire starts (in a wheelchair), the plastic melts, the fumes begin, and then it dies down when there?s nothing left to burn. It?s like a horror story.?

Proulx?s partner Gregory St. Germain agrees with her theory about the cause of Nother?s death, especially since they had a scary incident with her wheelchair shortly after they purchased it in December 2003.

Fine oil used in the hydraulics leaked out of a part in the chair and pooled on top of the battery pack. Proulx eventually lost use of the armrest section of her chair and had to bring it into the shop to get fixed.

St. Germain explains that since the wheelchairs operate with a joystick, the minute the battery shorts out, there?s no more control and the chair doesn?t work.

The details of Nother?s death have reverberated through the community as people search for answers to help them cope with their feelings of shock and grief.

Linda Wilson, director of marketing and institutional relations at Cambrian College, where Nother worked for many years as the co-ordinator for the
centre of equity, says her death is ?tragic? and her former colleagues were devastated to hear about it.

?She was such a committed individual and one who took her tasks and beliefs to heart and really moved forward to help people?As she did in the
community, she contributed significantly at Cambrian. We?re very appreciative of that and having her as part of our community for some many years.?

Her thoughts were echoed by Cindy Desgrosseilliers, manager of communications for the MS Society of Canada, Ontario Division.

She says Nother played an important role within the organization for many years.

?She was acting chair of the local Sudbury chapter and served two terms. Joanne was very active in making sure people with MS in the Sudbury
community knew they didn?t have to face this disease along. She was quite the advocate.?



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