Help for Disabled Farmers

Randy Hartjes isn’t afraid of hard work, but chronic health problems haven’t made it easy for him to handle all the chores on his Wisconsin dairy farm. Andy suffers from what is called “Brittle Bone Disease,” a hereditary condition that causes chronic pain, stiff joints and his bones to easily break. As he says,” Lifting, walking any distance, throwing baled hay, stooping over milking cows- everything was starting to get stiff. Still, this fourth generation farmer wants to keep doing what he says is in his blood.

The changing nature of farming that Randy so enjoys is what led him to find a way to keep doing the work he knows. Eight years ago he discovered a national program through the U-S Department of Food and Agriculture, called “Agrability”.

Cheryl Skjolass of the National AgrAbility program says, “A lot of the farmers were saying, you know, we want to continue farming. This is what we love and let’s look at ways and strategies that help us do our work and stay on the farm.” In 1991 Wisconsin became one of the first states to create an Agrability project it includes a partnership with the University of Wisconsin and Easter Seals. Paul Leverenz works with Easter Seals and says, “We go to the farms, meet with the farmer one on one, take a look around to determine what limitations they’re facing and how their disability is impacting their work process. To help Randy move around his farm more easily, Leverenz recommended he get an all-terrain vehicle. It was paid for by the State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Randy also has trouble climbing onto his tractor, so steps were added.   Leverenz says Randy is much more optimistic about his future and being able to pass the farm down to his son. In Marathon County, Wisconsin Dairy farmer Gary Lechleitner, still has a hard time thinking back to that January day in 2003 when his life changed forever. “I went out to haul manure and my jacket got caught on a power take off shaft and it pulled me in and my clothes got wrapped around my neck and my arm, and it took my arm off.”

Doctors were able to reattach the arm, but even though the operation was a success, wife Connie says family members thought his days as a farmer were over. “I called my mom and dad and they said, ‘you’ve got to see the farm. There’s no way he’s going to be able to farm with one arm.’ But Gary said, ‘This is not going to take over my life’ and he was more determined than ever to come back and farm.”

After months of rehabilitation, Gary did come back and began working again with the help of AgrAbility.  He began moving hay with the help of an elevator. Before getting this elevator, the Lechleitners had to stack these bales of hay by hand—something that would certainly tire Gary’s arm today.  Like Randy Hartjes, he also got steps on his tractor so he doesn’t have to strain his arms to pull himself up. Today, Gary is optimistic about the future, “I wish the accident never would have happened, but it did. And I’m thankful that I met AgrAbility because if it wasn’t for them, I really wouldn’t be farming now.”

www.agrabilityproject.org

Agriculture Information
Recent studies show that animals and farm machinery pose the biggest injury risks for those who work on farms…especially children. And the National Safety Council says that disabling farm injuries cost the nation more than 3 billion dollars a year in lost productivity and medical costs.