Disabled tenants at St. Leo Senior Apartments say repeated elevator outages caused missed appointments and fall concerns

Disabled tenants at St. Leo Senior Apartments say repeated elevator outages caused missed appointments and fall concerns Tom Kowalski News10NBC ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Several residents at St. Leo Senior Apartments said they were stuck on their floors for three days this weekend due to a broken elevator – which has since been fixed. Elizabeth Chandsey, a second-floor tenant who uses a wheelchair, said she missed an important medical appointment because the elevator was down. She says it’s a frequent occurance. “I didn’t go out this weekend. I haven’t been out in a couple weeks. And, you know, the day I have an appointment, the elevator is down,” Chandsey said. Chandsey said she has lived in the building since it opened two years ago and has faced multiple health challenges during that time, which have left her underweight, immunocompromised, and wheelchair-bound. “I couldn’t make my appointment. And that’s a very important appointment with a very. It’s a new GP, geriatric specialist, and I can’t see her until December,” Chandsey said. She described feeling trapped and concerned for her safety during the outage. “It scares me to death…How am I supposed to get out of here if there’s a fire? How am I supposed to get out, period,” Chandsey said. Chandsey said the elevator has broken down at least 10 times since she moved in, including this past weekend. Darrel Cummings, another resident who uses a walker, said he also struggled during the outage. “I was fortunate enough to have somebody to help me down the back stairs because I had fell [going down] the other day. The first day [the elevator] was out, I fell,” Cummings said. Cummings said he is still recovering from knee surgery and worries about what could happen if the elevator fails again. “You mostly worry about something happening. Not that it’s going to happen, but you worry about it. Because you got to look at it – it’s going to be hell for us to get from up here,” Cummings said. Other tenants shared mixed opinions off camera about how often the elevator breaks down, with some saying the issues are as frequent as Chandsey described, while others said the problems are not as bad. News10NBC reached out multiple times to Providence Management, which oversees St. Leo Senior Apartments, but did not receive a response.