With elevator broken, suburban Chicago man has to have firefighters carry him down stairs at great cost
Larry Brooks is a senior citizen who needs a wheelchair to get around, and who goes to dialysis multiple times a week.
But the only elevator in Brooks' condo in the southwest Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn has been broken for months. So he has resorted to an expensive way of getting from his third-floor home to street level to get the care he needs.
Brooks has been on dialysis for the past year and a half. He must go to appointments for dialysis three times a week — on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
With the elevator broken, Brooks needs help from the Oak Lawn Fire Department to help him get to his appointments — carrying him up and down the stairs. He is grateful for their efforts.
"I know they're tired, but they still, they're being nice about it," Brooks said.
The Oak Lawn Fire Department has had to come at least six times a week since April to get Brooks up and down the stairs in his building so he can go to his appointments. For one month of service, he received a bill for $2,500 from the village — $100 for each time he had to be carried.
"I can't afford it," Brooks said.
Brooks' power of attorney sent a letter to the management company asking them to pay for the fire department response.
"It's hard a lot of times, but I go through it," Brooks said. "It's hard."
The 84-year-old said his condo association has asked all 30-unit owners to pay $7,000 each for a special assessment to replace the elevator. Brooks says he already pays a $300 a month assessment — while enduring what appears to be ceiling water damage in his hallway, a crumbling ceiling at the building entryway, and a rusted hand railing.
"They're supposed to do the whole building tuckpointing, but they don't," Brooks said. "They do some part over here on this and they want us help pay for the whole thing."
Brooks said as a unit owner, he wants to know how his monthly assessment is being spent.
"I'd really like to have a change in this building," he said, "In other words, people do what they're supposed to do to take care of things, but I don't see it."
the Village of Oak Lawn does not offer a hardship program for the fire department lift assistance charges, and encourages Brooks to pursue reimbursement through the condo association or management company.
CBS News Chicago reached out to the management company for the building, and had not heard back late Thursday.