As you guys know, we bought a minivan recently for Brady to use as a commuter to work. However, he can’t drive it yet, because *ding ding ding* it doesn’t have hand controls in it yet.
Immediately upon buying the van, Brady began the application process to Kinsmen to request funding for a second set of hand controls. He filled in the form, “plead our case” so to speak, got the two quotes required, as well as the recommendation letter from an OT, and got it all in by the required date! Kinsmen assesses their applications once a month, so the deadline is solid. And we met it! Heyooo!
A short time later, a Kinsmen rep called to speak to Brady about the application. He asked if we could simply move the hand controls to the minivan from the bus. Brady said ideally no, as the bus is the vehicle that actually fits the whole family, and it will be our main vehicle. The rep agreed that it made sense that Brady should be able to drive his work vehicle and his family vehicle. He confirmed that we weren’t asking for a vehicle, just the controls, and Brady agreed. It all looked good.
When the day came, we were actually denied funding :/ This was a pretty big bummer because it was a misunderstanding. While the rep told Brady he really went to bat for us, and gave all the correct information, the therapist who wrote the recommendation letter made an error and stated that I would now be the sole driver of the bus, which isn’t correct. The rep refuted this on our behalf, but because it was written word, they took it as truth, and they said to just move the controls from one vehicle to the next.
We were advised we could appeal, but that it would only be reconsidered at the next months meeting. And as it gets colder, the pressure is on to get Brady into the right, safest vehicle. Plus, when we got hand controls on the bus, it took weeks. So we decided not to appeal and just pay out of pocket. We do have the funds, thank the Lord, but we are being very careful financially as we navigate the new job that doesn’t quite cover things just yet. Our savings are important, but this is a very important thing, and I’m incredibly grateful we have the resources to make it happen!
Brady put the call in to Golden Mobility as soon as we were denied, and lo and behold, they have a set of hand controls for our bus in stock. They will be installed next week!!! Brady is SO excited to be able to take his vehicle to work and have the setup we’ve been waiting for 🙂
Praise God for always taking care of our needs and never leaving us without 💜