Winter has Windsor woman in wheelchair feeling 'stuck' in her own home
When winter weather hits, Joannie Cowie feels like a prisoner in her own home.
It's very frustrating. I can't get out without help ... I think I have the right to be independent as a Canadian," she said.
At the age of six, a severe asthma attack left her paralyzed and in a wheelchair. She was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disease in which a person's immune system attacks their nerves.
She currently lives in community housing through the River Park Non-Profit Housing Corporation in LaSalle. But according to Cowie, staff members who shovel snow outside of her home often leave large portions of the driveway and entrance ramp untreated, leaving her unable to go outside.
Whenever Environment Canada issues a special weather statement, Cowie said she feels "stuck."
"It's a very strong barrier. I know the people of Windsor-Essex try and keep their roads clean ... but it still needs work done," she said, adding her the wheels of her chair "take a beating" when rolling through snow and ice.
A scary example of that happened this past Family Day, when Cowie was getting out of the car to transfer herself into her wheelchair. She had purposely worn running shoes that day so she had more traction on the ground.
But when Cowie stepped out, her left, paralyzed leg slid out from underneath her, "turning in a circular motion."
"All I could hear was a crackling noise, almost like popcorn," she said, adding she waited until she couldn't bear the pain of her injuries anymore before getting the leg checked out at the hospital.
"I had multiple fractures underneath my foot and in the ankle area. I just was at the fracture clinic this morning on Ouellette."
Daughter pitching in during the winter
It's not the first time this has happened. Cowie recalls an incident from last year in which she left her house to head to a doctor's appointment.
"I actually fell in my driveway. If it wasn't for my daughter, I probably would've broken two legs, an arm," she said, adding the fall left her "bruised" and "shaken up."
That incident was especially devastating for her daughter, Victoria Cowie, who said she things can get "quite stressful" whenever winter weather is expected.
"When the people from our housing come to shovel the driveways, they don't always shovel exactly a width of a wheelchair, so I go back out, re-shovel it and salt it again," said Victoria.
She said if her mom was left in the home on her own, going outside around snow and ice would be next to impossible.
"She can't push herself, so I push her everywhere," she said, adding the driveway is already steep enough to send her mom rolling into traffic without the dangers of untreated ice on the ground.
Salt demand has been 'crazy'
The nightly freeze from temperatures below zero are causing many to reach for the salt — and it's selling out in some stores in Windsor.
Home Hardware just received a shipment of salt, but doesn't expect it to stay on the shelves too long.
Assistant manager Tammy Dagenais said demand for salt has been "crazy," with customers picking up "two or three" bags at a time.
