Daviess County Fiscal Court approved a resolution on Thursday to apply for a $150,000 Land and Conservation Fund 2019 grant for a new playground. The grant would allow Daviess County Parks and Recreation to install new equipment at Horse Fork Creek Park (HFCP) that meets all ADA (Americans with Disabilities) standards and would serve as the most inclusive park in the county for children with or without disabilities.
This approved resolution is the first step toward what Parks and Recreation Director Ross Leigh hopes will be a park where any and all children can use the equipment and play interactively with each other — regardless of whether or not they use a wheelchair.
“At the end of this month is when the grant is due and the award will be made,” Leigh said. “It’s not necessarily a guarantee we’ll get it, but this application meets a lot of that criteria for the grant, so we feel good about it.”
Leigh said Fiscal Court has been approved for over 10 grants related to playground equipment in years past — most recently, the spray park equipment being installed at HFCP.
This playground would be built adjacent from the spray park, Leigh said, and in close enough proximity that any disabled children hoping to use both parks would have easy access to both areas. In fact, the spray park’s concrete flooring and the playground’s pour-in-place rubber surface will both be wheelchair-accessible, Leigh said.
“The chairs can roll over the flooring very easily,” Leigh said.
Even more, this playground would include equipment that provides easy access for children in wheelchairs. A specially designed inclusive whirl operates as a merry-go-round and can hold two wheelchairs at once and provides additional seating for a caregiver to ride along, while a wheelchair-accessible Alta Glide operates as an inclusive playground glider that sways and bounces children inside.
No heavy lifting or additional strain would be required to place wheelchairs onto the Alta Glide.
“The chair simply wheels onto the Alta Glide,” Leigh said. “It’s specially designed so that it’s at the level of the playground surface and you don’t have to pick the wheelchair up.”
This park would be a first for many of Owensboro’s wheelchair-bound children and a welcomed change for caregivers of those children who struggle to find playground equipment that’s accessible for wheelchairs.
Melissa Logsdon’s son Jansen enjoys playing at Owensboro and Daviess County’s various parks, but the equipment offered has made it difficult for Jansen to participate in inclusive play.
At Smothers Park, Logsdon said, there is a piece of wheelchair-accessible equipment, but she calls it the “ramp to nowhere.”
“ADA-compliant parks just means there has to be a four-inch platform to transfer, and [the park] has to have a ramp most of the times. The ramps can take him up in his wheelchair, but they lead to nowhere,” Logsdon said. “There’s nothing for him to play with up there.”
Logsdon said she’s found HFCP to be the most wheelchair-accessible park in the entire county so far, aside from the mulch. Reachable equipment, such as a drum, allows Logsdon’s son to play interactively because his wheelchair can fit underneath and be reached. However, there are still very few aspects of the city and county playgrounds that allow for inclusive play for children in wheelchairs.
Owensboro City Parks and Recreation Director Amanda Rogers said she has been working to include more inclusive equipment, and one of the playgrounds Rogers is excited to see open will be located at Chautauqua Park.
“This unit was approximately $180,000 and that includes equipment, surface and installation,” Rogers said. “There are ADA requirements for all newly installed equipment. During the planning for any playground, we consider meeting as many needs as possible and making units exceed the current ADA requirements.”
The new playground will celebrate a ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, and will include pour-in-place surfaces, specialty molded seats and grips and holds that make play easier for those with special needs, Rogers said.
The problem with purchasing and installing inclusive playground equipment is a lack of manufacturers who design and build equipment that meets the needs of the disabled, Rogers said.
Logsdon said she has spoken with Rogers about incorporating more interactive play equipment for wheelchair-bound children, and that Rogers has been extremely open and understanding.
“The unfortunate part of my job is not being able to always meet every citizens’ needs or desires,” Rogers said. “But trust me it is not without effort.”
Even in Louisville, where Logsdon takes her son for doctor’s appointments, there are very few playgrounds that include interactive play for the disabled and those with special needs, such as autism.
“The City is heading in the right direction — they’re just not there yet,” Logsdon said. “I think the [City and County] should collaborate more with occupational therapists and parents, get a better idea of what is lacking. We have a real need in our community.”
