A Kelowna man who is a paraplegic has been stuck in his second-floor apartment since Friday, after the elevator in his building broke down. And he can't get an answer on when it will be fixed.
Gill Bowman, 67, suffered a stroke three years ago that left him without the use of the lower half of his body. Since then, Bowman has used a wheelchair to maintain his independence.
But on Friday, the elevator in his building at 2035 Baron Road stopped working, which has left him effectively trapped on the second floor.
As a result, Bowman had to cancel his doctor's appointment Friday afternoon, and he's been unable to leave the building.
The building is managed by Pacific Quorum Properties, and while Bowman says he's repeatedly called the building's manager and left voicemails, he's been unable to get any answers. He's also reached out to the local fire department and Kelowna City Hall, but he's been unable to get any help.
“If there's a fire, I don't know what I'm going to do, I can't get out,” Bowman said.
He believes he may be the only resident of the building who's unable to use the stairs.
Castanet has reached out to Pacific Quorom Properties, but could only get in contact with the company's after hours emergency paging service. A woman at that service said Saturday she would put a call out to repair the elevator.
Bowman said an elevator repair man reached out to him Saturday afternoon, and told him they would work to get the situation fixed, but as of Sunday morning, he remains stuck on the second floor.
“He apologized and said had [the management company] phoned in saying what the problem is, they would have come right away,” Bowman said.
“He said he'd have someone there in an hour and that he'd call me back, but he never called back, and I don't know if he showed up or not, because it's still broken.
“It'd be nice to get out and get some groceries and that sort of thing."
