Desperate for help on damaged home, HUD money tore it up, pipes won't work anymore, trapped disabled person smelling sewer gases I'M SICK NOW, PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE.

2009-10-14T04:40:00Z

I'm extremely distraught while writing this, as I have little hope that anything will ever come of all these blogs I do in my feeble attempt at seeking help for my desperate problem.

Here's what happened about 5 yrs. ago.

I had for many years applied for free grant money through my city, Owensboro, Kentucky to simply replace a rotten wooden bathroom window within my shower. I have proof of all I'm stating, pictures, audio tapes, written letters.

I qualified under two methods though only one was necessary to obtain the help I needed.
One: I am low income, under 15 thousand a year.
Two: I'm totally disabled, homebound 99.999 percent of the time. I ONLY get out of my home to get my monthly medicines from my family doctor, attempting the same day to do my grocery shopping this is only ( IF) my body is willing to cooperate.

Instead of their fixing my home, they destroyed it.
So for FIVE YEARS I've been forced to bathe by filling a mug with water from the tub faucet to pour over me to bathe, since they didn't hook my shower back up, nor bolt the commode back to the floor, broke my vanity and sink, left all their mess in my driveway and back yard, which still remains there. Bathing the way I'm forced to, is painful and difficult, since I've had both neck and low back surgeries.To bend forward puts pressure on the metal in both areas which have also gone through fusion as well.

Several months prior to October of 2008. Nothing had been fixed as yet.
My health has been declining however and I can do very little physically to get things in order so it's pretty much remained as it had from the first time they came.
I have been litigating my own workers comp case which had been reopened over a medical fee dispute October of 2006, all the while with my home totally messed up. Stress and more stress. All the while still seeking help for my home.

Health issues: Needing major back and neck surgery to stabilize my entire spinal column, as corticosteroid injections and oral forms of it has destroyed all my major joints to include my spine with the diagnosis of osteonecrosis also referred to as avascular necrosis. Besides these much needed surgeries, I must also have both hips, left ankle and right knee totally replaced. They also tell me I may also have to have surgery or replacements of my left knee and right shoulder too. I have serious rheumatoid arthritis (I'll refer to as RA hereafter) however this played no part in the additional diagnoses listed above. When I was twice injured on the job, drawing totally disability income for life, as well as medical benefits, the latter is still being debated every time my doctor tries to obtain something for my medical care and relief. Oh I was awared it, but try getting an insurance cartel to do the right thing ! It's like locating the gold at the end of the rainbow. I as well as all workers which were injured on the job, must fight every time my/our doctor's say something must be done. It's nothing more than a way for the insurance carriers to prolong injured workers medical care, abusing us some more, as well as causing further additional injuries as has been my misfortune. I had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, degenerative arthritis, degenerative disc disease, bulging disc's, torn meniscus in my right knee due to the insurance carrier of work comp denying to provide me a wheelchair for 16 yrs. all because I wasn't aware of the laws until I started learning and practicing them myself in 2001, which is when I successfully reopened my own workers comp case to fight for what I had already been AWARDED. By the way, this isn't ONLY a Kentucky issue, but is perpetrated all across America against worker's who've become disabled due to a job related injury(s).

I wasn't hit with RA until twelve (12) yrs AFTER becoming totally physically and occupationally disabled.

So now, to what I've dealt with since the first nearly 5 yrs. ago when the city received grant money I presume it came from HUD. A neighbor across the streets house, was getting some work done on their house, and I asked how is it everyone else can find help but I can't seem to find any. I was given a number to call Mr. Volk with the City of Owensboro. I called, he had no money and I figured that was that. Several months elapsed and I thought to call and check with him again. Still no help, so I gave up the idea my home would ever get fixed and repaired from what they had done to me and then left me in this shape. One day I received a call from this Mr. Volk. He told me he had plans for some money he had but they fell through so he was dividing it up to the several people who needed their homes fixed. I was one of the homes on his list. He then told me he had 35,000 thirty five thousand dollars to put in my home. This floored me, I even asked him to repeat it. He told me to make a list of things I would like done to my home and he would come by soon with a home inspector and view the home and write down what they felt needed addressing too. Then we'd all sit down and decide on what would be fixed. He told me not to get excited as the work wouldn't begin until after the new year, that being January of 2009. I told him I'd been waiting 5 yrs. so three more months wouldn't be difficult.

The two men finally came the following year, but certainly not in January. When they walked through it I asked Mr. Volk could I have the walk in therapy 13 jet bathtub as it was a medical device for me, not a whirlpool tub. He said NO PROBLEM, then I immediately asked about a wood floor throughout except in my kitchen which I wanted tiled and the bathroom tiled as well. He again said NO PROBLEM. He had sent me some papers to fill out which he had already told me were coming, but it was just a paper promising them I'd reside in my home for the next 5 yrs and none of the money which they were to put in my home would have to be paid back, NO STRINGS ATTACHED. I had to prove my income, prove the deed was in my name alone, which I did and things so I thought were all taken care of. Something peculiar occured which made me suspicious of what was going on especially when he first came to my home and kept trying to get me to move up into some section 8 housing. I emphatically told him NO, this had been my home for nearly 33 yrs. and I wasn't going anywhere, nor did I have any desire to do so, whether they were going to fix my home or NOT. He brought this up the second time he came to my home, this time, I was upset, and asked him what was it, did he know someone which wanted my hosue so badly that they and HUD worked this as an angle at disabled low income people to take their homes from them ? When he STILL refused to except my NO ANSWER, he went the extra mile and GAVE my name to the Housing Authority and told me so by letter. This infruriated me which prompted my call to the HUD Office in Louisville KY to inquire if this was how they did people ? UNTIL I made a phone call to the HUD office in Louisville KY, everything to this point had been discussed over the phone or in person, then all of a sudden everything had to be done in writing. I didn't think much about it, as I thought it would be better, this way everyone would be on the same page and there would be no misunderstandings on what was to be done or not done to my home. Soon afterwards however, he writes me a letter informing me that he had TOLD me already I couldn't have the walk in tub, nor the floor as it would be to cost prohibitive. NONSENSE. He had never discussed this with me, other than yes I could have them both. So now I'm dealing with not only his retaliation against me for having called HUD but a liar as well. I later found out from Mr. Volk himself, why everything seemed to go south from that point, as he wrote me a letter which proved his actions against me were being done as an obvious retaliation against me for having called the HUD office. HE put this in his letter telling me how he didn't appreciate how I had accused him of malfeaseance of funds. WHAT, I thought. Heck I didn't even know what it means, much less acuse him of it which I certainly did no such thing. Then I got to thinking, I did bring up to Ms. Bowles at HUD in Louisville, that he had told me he used a certain man on rental trailers which was to be brought to my home so all my things could be stored in it in my front yard whle the work was being performed, his man charged 200 per month rental fee. I had already told him I found someone for 75 per month, yet he still wanted to use this man who he said he always uses. To me this is the buddy buddy club, and I'm the one getting screwed here, that's another 125 dollars which can be put into my house. The heck with your friend I want all the money which can be put in my house to fix it up the best it can be. He didn't like that idea however. So I do believe I made mention to HUD about this, and if the shoes fits, well then wear it Mr. Volk. Every letter he wrote me after that, he changed the to do list of EVERY SINGLE TIME. IT WAS EXTREMELY UPSETTING AND CAUSED ME STRESS BEYOND MEASURE. He NEVER stayed with the same plan, leaving more questions THAN ANSWERS, and my time having to sit at this computer to sitting type him a response was painful to say the least. Then things really got out of hand when he wanted to move my water heater to my kitchen pantry, which would cost more money, as well as telling me he was going to move my heater to that same spot as well, which would have cost more money to because then all my duct work in the attic would then have to be changed as well, ludicrous, I'm dealing with a nut ! Or someone which has no intention of fixing my home to begin with. My questions in a letter to him were NEVER answered ! WHY this man was causing such a problem not to mention additional stress on my health which I am to avoid at all cost yet he continued his charade for over a year. Why move anything. I certainly didn't want any of these items moved from their original locations, it simply made no sense to do so. Why would I, as it would take more money from his allotted amount wasting it to do so. Per the water heater, (GAS) would have meant a new gas line would have had to be run. and then what of the vacant hole left by it's removal, where he was wanting to move it, was my food pantry, and I told him that's what that room was for. I couldn't help but wonder who the heck he was remodeling my home for, as it certainly wasn't for MY BENEFIT.

He initially said I'd get new kitchen cabinets, wood flooring throughout, tile floor in kitchen and bath areas (non slip type, or gritty to prevent my falling if water were to have spilled onto it).

My Father had recently died August 25, I also had to go to a meeting to speak before the Interim Joint Committee over Labor and Industry Sept 15, 2009 on the atrocities, abuses and medical neglect which insurance carriers providing workers comp in Kentucky were perpetrating on injured disabled workers. So with all these issues in my life I hadn't the time to open the last huge envelop Mr. Volk sent me, until the night before he and the home inspector were to return. However, he had called me just a day or so before telling me again he was going to let me have the bathtub I wanted AND the wood floor. So upon my opening his envelope I became furious as he had AGAIN changed the agenda of the to do list, he had the City attorney draw up papers, and it was in short the last straw which broke the camels back. So now they are not going to do my home. He wanted me to sign some paper agreeing they could come into my home over the 5 yr period and IF I hadn't abided by their regulations, laws and rules of the city they could in fact give me a thirty day notice and boot me out of MY home. SOMETHING I think they had plans for all along, as that was the FIRST thing which came out of both those mens mouth's. I thought there was NO WAY I was signing any such papers. These type papers weren't requested of me the 5 previous years when they destroyed my home, and I sure as heck wasn't signing anything for them to FIX it back. I called and left answering machine messages on his and his bosses phone, telling them I figure by what they sent meant I now had to obtain an attorney.

It has taken these 5 yrs. for my plumbing to come to a final halt. The bath sink bubbles up into the tub, along with sewer sludge resembling an black oil slick, the kitchen sinks are both full of water and stink to high heaven, enough so you vomit, I am now presently sick and on antibiotics. I'm having a hard time breathing, but I have NO WHERE TO ESCAPE TO. I need immediate help with the plumbing situation, now. They had torn my plumbing up 5 yrs ago when they parked a huge utility truck on my front lawn when it had just rained. I was gone for approximately 40 minutes and came back from what should have only been two (2) men in my home yet there were 5 or 7 in my home. The utility truck parked right over my clay pipes and shortly afterwards I end up with a plumbing bill, and was told my pipes were broken in the concrete slab. They did this to me, not me.Everything worked until THEY invaded my home. I cannot bathe, wash dishes or clothes, cook or anything other than use my commode, it's on a different line, thank God. I am living in a deplorable situation, so my question is, is there anyone out there which can help me get my house fixed ? They were to have put new windows in 6 the same size, 1 smaller one in the bathroom, then the BIG picture window 8 in all, water heater, air conditioner, tear out a 12 foot wall to make my home wheelchair accessible, paint my house, fix my walls smooth, do the drain pipes replace kitchen cabinets and double stainless steel sink, new stove and refrigerator, wood floor through out, tile in bath and kitchen areas, stucko the ceilings, check the electrical wires, put a back porch light in, and here instead I sit breathing this mess. I believe that's all that was to be done, oops, no they roof as it leaks and needs only shingle replacement. They were going to put new siding on and then of course the entire plumbing would have to be dug up in my front yard. I have an extremely small home, it's only 975 square feet, and it's on a slab of concrete.. Can anyone HELP ME ? PLEASE. I cannot leave as I can't sleep in a conventional bed, I must sleep in my lift chair, as I'm waiting for workers comp ins. to pay for a particular tempur pedic queen size electrical bed for me.

I'm sick and tired of being abused by people, just because they can. I am hoping for your quick response with some good news attached to it. I know smelling sewer gases is deadly and it can kill you, but I'm stuck here. It'd be dream come true if Oprah would sent Nate or that Home Makeover show would come help me, anyone ANYONE PLEASE, I don't want to live this way anymore. HURRY ?

IF anyone needs my help from the state of Kentucky over a work injury please go to our new Kentucky site, at www.kentuckyinjuredworkers.com thanks everyone and God Bless Carol Roberts Send me an email for help on my home OR if you're an injured worker. Cherokeetallwm@aol.com

WheepingWillow

Desperate for help on damaged home, HUD money tore it up, pipes won't work anymore, trapped disabled person smelling sewer gases I'M SICK NOW, PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE.