The lifting service has existed in the city for approximately twenty-five years and is part of the Supplementary Public Transport (AOV). The service is intended for people with disabilities who cannot climb or descend stairs independently. A total of 68 Amsterdam residents used the service this year.
Employees of the lifting team, who work for transporter RMC, lift users up to three floors down the stairs in a lifting chair. The service was originally intended as a temporary measure, for example when people were waiting for a stair lift or a replacement home. Research by ArboNed has shown that the work alone cannot be carried out safely.
Reason enough for Care Alderman Alexander Scholtes to cancel the service as of June 1. “It was a difficult but unavoidable decision,” Scholtes emphasizes. “But it can no longer be done safely, even with adjustments.” The councilor bases this on complaints from employees of the lifting team as well as research by ArboNed.
Users informed two months ago
The dozens of users of the service in the city were informed by letter at the beginning of April about the termination of the lifting service. Consulting agency Reade has contacted the group to offer them alternative help, Scholtens explains. For example, some homes have been made more accessible, people were given a stair lift or another home was looked at.
“The honest fact is that this could have been a very impactful decision for people,” Scholtens emphasizes. This also applied to 78-year-old Dolly Vonk. She has been using the lifting service for two years since she has two leg prostheses and is blind due to the consequences of diabetes. Three times a week, lifting team members help her up and down the three steps of her porch stairs so that she can go to the hospital for dialysis.
