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The August Update

News Post

by Trevor Jacobson | Aug 16, 2023 | Monthly Newsletter

Happy August, Friends of Easy Does It,

This summer may not have been as warm as many of us expected, but there’s still plenty of Outreach activities to report. As you may already know, we recently expanded our Wheelchair Repair program to Oakland. So, we’re hard at work getting the word out about our newfound ability to serve Oakland residents with wheelchair repair. We’ve also introduced Online Service Applications, making it even easy to request EDI services.

Now Serving Oakland

Thanks to a generous Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation grant, Easy Does It can now offer affordable wheelchair repair to all Oakland residents. Like our Berkeley program, clients can pay $15/hour for access to a skilled repair technician and take advantage of our collection of donated parts. This allows us to provide replacement parts, some of which are no longer even manufactured, free of charge.

If you want to start using our Oakland Repair Program, apply on our website. One of our Dispatchers will need to follow up with you, after receiving your online request, to collect additional information. Still, in the coming months, we also plan to add this to our Online Service Application.

Online Service Applications

You may have also noticed a new button on our website. We launched an updated website that allows new clients to apply for service online. Prospective Clients can complete most of their service applications online. You start by filling out a short form verifying your eligibility for our emergency services. Once our team has reviewed your submission to confirm your eligibility, you’ll receive the complete application. If you’re a Berkeley resident it also includes a quick way to apply for Ride Vouchers through the Berkeley Rides for Seniors and Disabled Program.

Easy Does It at the Berkeley Farmers Market

Easy Does was at the Ecology Center’s weekly Farmer’s Market. The focus of the market for the week was on reducing the amount of plastic waste generated by our communities, so we stocked up on complimentary tote bags and reusable produce bags for attendees. Thanks to everyone who popped by our table to pick up their free merch and help spread the word about our work.

Easy Does It at SAHA’s Resident Field Day

We had an incredible time at Satellite Affordable Housing Associates’ (SAHA) Annual Resident Field Day. Our only regret is not bringing enough tote bags. We were blown away by the number of individuals who popped by our booth to learn how Easy Does It can help you live independently. We look forward to seeing SAHA’s community members in the immediate future at workshops and at SAHA’s 2024 field day.

Easy Does It at UC Berkeley’s DSP Orientation

We’re also fortunate enough to participate in UC Berkeley’s Disabled Students Program orientation. Making it through UC Berkeley is already a challenging experience, so we’re pretty pleased to be able to partner with CAL to ensure that their students with disabilities have access to our emergency services while they’re in town. Their students with disabilities have enough to worry about, so we’re happy to be able to support them with our emergency services of Accessible Transportation, Attendant Care, and Wheelchair Repair.

Easy Does It at Oakland First Fridays

We were also pleased to be able to attend Oakland First Fridays. Now that Easy Does It offers affordable Wheelchair Repair in Oakland, we figured it only made sense to attend one of Oakland’s largest and longest-running Street Festivals. We were there to hand out free swag bags to wheelchair users and inform them that we can now proudly serve The Town.

Our Second Monthly Repair Workshop

Despite some challenges with our first online wheelchair repair live video stream, Easy Does Its wheelchair repair team returned again to provide free tips and tricks about how to maintain wheelchairs online via a live stream broadcast. This time, we successfully broadcast the live stream with zero technical difficulties and offered a wealth of resources to the folks who tuned in. We look forward to continuing to provide this online and interactive training event as well as other educational topics as additional events online via livestream. These online training events are turning out to be a great way to connect with the community regardless of where you are located.

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Seeking Private Pay Attendants

Our Case Managers/Case Managers are hard at work improving the resources Easy Does It can offer to our clients. Being able to request emergency attendants and to maintain their attendants. They work with our clients to connect them with attendants as well as how to maintain the employment of their attendants. We are always searching for personal care attendants looking for work. If you or someone you know works as a personal care attendant and is interested in taking on additional clients, we encourage you to add that person’s name to our attendant list. After reviewing your application, we will reach out to you whenever one of our clients is looking to privately hire an attendant.

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That’s everything we have for you in August. It has proven to be, yet another busy month filled with events and outreach. We hope the improvements to our website and services will help us better connect with anyone who needs Easy Does Its emergency safety-net services to live independently.

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We regularly send out monthly updates and occasional announcements to subscribers of our mailing list. Those who choose to subscribe to SMS can receive emergency updates regarding natural disasters and the status of our services during them.

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