From intro to a story in
The NY Times Home & Garden section Oct. 8:
Six weeks after James Fair (pictured), a 22-year-old combat engineer, began serving in Iraq in the fall of 2003, he detonated a homemade bomb while walking away from a barbed wire fence he had just erected near Falluja. He lost his eyesight and both arms below the elbows, and sustained brain injuries.
Seven months later, when he was released from a military hospital — the blue scars from the powder burns on his face still visible — he moved in with his then wife in Kansas but left after two months, because, he said recently, she “couldn’t take care of me.” After that, he returned home to Western Pennsylvania to live with his mother, Lonnie Mosco, and her new husband, Scott, in a small two-story house they had moved to in his absence.
There were only two bedrooms, so Mr. Fair shared one with his 8-year-old half sister. To keep him safe from hazards like the stairs, family members “took turns walking him wherever he needed to go,” Mrs. Mosco said. They also assisted him in countless other ways, from changing television channels to cleaning him when he went to the bathroom. Attending to his needs became a nearly full-time job for the Moscos, one they could see stretching out for the rest of their lives. And the constraints of the house made things worse.
At the time, the Department of Veterans Affairs offered permanently and severely disabled veterans a maximum of $50,000 to modify their homes or build new ones that accommodate disabilities (in July, the amount was raised to $60,000). But the Moscos knew they would need more, so Mr. Fair, with guidance from a Veterans Affairs counselor, turned to one of roughly a dozen national nonprofit groups that have sprouted to build housing for veterans like him.
The group, a Massachusetts-based organization called Homes for Our Troops, agreed to build the family a free house, and in March, they moved in. A comfortable if compact three-bedroom ranch house, it is one of the most technologically advanced projects Homes for Our Troops has completed so far, with an array of low- and high-tech features tailored to Mr. Fair’s disabilities.
It is a test case of the ways design can improve the lives of severely wounded veterans and their families, and of the limits of its power to turn around a situation like Mr. Fair’s. The house includes design elements common to most Homes for Our Troops projects, like wheelchair-accessible doors and kitchen appliances (which are lower than standard ones) and bedrooms separated by public areas, to create zones of privacy. Other features address needs particular to Mr. Fair, now 27, who does not use prosthetic arms because he finds them uncomfortable and clumsy. There is a toilet with a built-in bidet that washes and dries the user, for example, and voice recognition software that, once operational, should allow him to hear weather reports, unlock doors and change TV channels.
These things are making a difference, Mrs. Mosco said, and the family is grateful for them. But the house has its share of aggravations, particularly for Mr. Fair. He did not want it to be wheelchair accessible, for example, because he does not use a wheelchair. Homes for Our Troops insisted, because in many cases a veteran’s injuries worsen over time, and Mr. Fair has shrapnel in his leg that may have serious consequences down the line. But this is not something he likes to think about. “James gets upset even talking about wheelchairs,” Mrs. Mosco said.
Paul Gemme, the projects manager who oversees the construction of most Homes for Our Troops houses, said the work is rewarding but also challenging, in part because the veterans he builds for are often frustrated, and have higher expectations for their new homes than a charity can meet.
“A lot of human emotions come into this,” he said. The veterans “are in a situation they never thought they would be in. We have had to employ a lot of Psych 101.”
Another challenge, he added, is staying on top of the Veterans Affairs department’s intricate list of building requirements for contractors using V.A. money. Homes for Our Troops finances its work mainly with private and corporate donations, but also depends on its veteran clients signing over V.A. grants.
From intro to a story in The NY Times Home & Garden section Oct. 8:
