Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Paulatuuq (Oct 08/01) - Mary Evik Ruben calls herself a cranky old woman, but these days she has one less thing to be cranky about.

At the end of last month, the elders' residence where she lives finally installed a ramp for her wheelchair, eight months after she moved in.

"Last year, I was a cranky old woman," says the 76-year-old. "After we moved here, we got no ramp -- just the steps. The wheelchair can't go on top of the stairs."

The four-unit building was finished last winter and Ruben, along with three of her elderly siblings, moved in Feb. 1.

Although Ruben can still walk short distances with a cane, her legs are weak and she relies on a wheelchair to get around. For the last eight months, she was parking her wheelchair at the bottom of the stairs and then hauling herself up and down to her unit.

Apparently, when the residence was in its planning stage, the ramp was left out of the picture. During community consultations, the NWT Housing Corp. in Inuvik heard that a ramp wasn't needed, says Dan Doncaster, technical manager for the housing corporation.

But during the course of the construction, they learned that one of the residents would indeed require a ramp. By then, it was too late to put the materials on the barge.

"We probably could have built it that year, but we were told we didn't need to," Doncaster says. The residence cost $550,000, and this year's work -- the ramp, deck and roof overhead -- cost an additional $100,000.

Ruben is just glad she can now get around without too much fuss. "It was hard, but now it's really easy. Now I could go right up to my door with wheelchair. I'm happy because I don't have to climb up steps."