Friday, September 9, 2011
Dad's boss pays for intensive therapy
Matthew Gal uses his arms to increase his upper body strength during therapy [Photo by Photo provided by Euro-Peds]
Piotr Gal had no idea that Edward, a new fellow worker at his commercial window washing job, was actually the company president, Henrik Slipsager.
Gal, who lives in Bridgeview, also had no idea that his 7-year-old son, Matthew, who has cerebral palsy, would be touched by Slipsager's deep-pocketed generosity.
Posing as a Dutch immigrant seeking a full-time job, Slipsager learned several positions from his own workers at ABM, a maintenance services company with locations throughout the country. The workers did not know Slipsager's true identity. He did this for an episode of the popular CBS TV show "Undercover Boss," which allows CEOs to pretend they are merely workers to see their company from the ground up.
Gal, who's from Poland, struck up an easy relationship with Slipsager, a fellow immigrant, on the first day of "training" him to clean high-rise windows in downtown Chicago.
"I've got three kids and been married 13 years already," Gal told Slipsager as they set up a safety cable on the roof of the high rise.
"Good for you," replied Slipsager, who was visibly scared as the shaky scaffolding climbed the side of the high rise.
"My life is kind of hard. My son is 7 years old and he has cerebral palsy. He's not walking, not talking. That's the hardest thing," Gal told him. "He gets therapy for a month… in Europe. Poland. The ticket is $1,700… too much."
Gal, an ABM window washer supervisor of 14 years, revealed his dream to take his son to a specialized intensive therapy program in Pontiac, Mich. The program, inspired by a program in Poland, is called Euro-Peds and it's based at Doctors' Hospital of Michigan, where children with cerebral palsy are given personalized therapy to learn new skills.
The only catch was that Gal's health insurance would not cover the cost of the program, so he considered moving back to Poland.
"It would break my heart for a guy like Piotr to leave this company to help his son," Slipsager told TV viewers during the show's airing months later.
By the show's end, the truth came out when Gal was summoned to the company's New York City headquarters for an "evaluation" of Edward's work.
There, Slipsager revealed his secret to Gal and informed him that ABM would fund two intensive-therapy Euro-Peds sessions for Matthew. That included all travel and hotel expenses for each two-week period, in addition to the $6,000 for the program.
Gal's son Matthew arrived at the Euro-Peds program for his first two-week session on Jan. 31. He participated in specialized "suit therapy," working with specially-trained therapists 20 hours a week to learn to walk independently.
"Matthew can walk, but he gets tired easily and he doesn't have the balance or confidence to walk independently," Gal says. "I would like to see him become more stable and strong."
It is typical for Euro-Peds' young patients to return for intensive therapy a couple times a year, especially during growth spurts. The goal is to give children time over a two- to three-week period to learn new skills and gain enough strength to carry out those skills in a real-life setting, according to spokeswoman Anne Mancour.
"In Matthew's case, he has more weakness and balance issues and he will benefit from regular therapy and occasional bouts of intensive therapy to bump him up to his next functional skill level," Mancour says.
Matthew's second two-week session ended July 22 and, according to his lead therapist, he did wonderfully.
"He worked hard and was a pleasure to treat, always smiling," says Mel McGinnis, a senior intensive pediatric physical therapist.
The therapy's goals focused on skills that involved strength, balance and function, including tall kneeling, static standing balance, ascending and descending stairs and beginning to take independent steps, she says.
"Through his 40 hours of intense strengthening and repetition of these tasks, he improved all of them," McGinnis says. "But perhaps the most exciting of all his gains was the increase in his independent stepping."
This was such a significant improvement that his parents noticed immediate changes at the Michigan hotel as well. There, Matthew would walk into a room, stop to look around, and then turn and walk into another room, they say.
Gal could only echo what he initially told Slipsager through tears that day in his boss' New York City office: "Thank you, thank you very much.Saturday, September 3, 2011
Window Washer News, Week Recap
Published on Saturday 3 September 2011 05:50
TWO men dramatically rescued a woman from a burning home in Scarborough.
Ryan Burns, 27, and Jim Murphy, 58, both leapt into action after they saw smoke pouring out of a top-floor window in Northstead Flats, Long Walk, Northstead.
They had to kick down a door.
Mr Burns, who lives nearby, went to get a set of ladders, which he uses for his window cleaning job, and he and Mr Murphy climbed through an open window adjacent to the burning flat.
After battling their way through smoke, they found the resident.
Mr Burns said: “After we kicked the door down, we then found the woman.”
The two men then assisted fire officers in carrying the woman to safety, before officers extinguished the fire.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue crew manager Paul Burnett praised both men, saying: “It’s very commendable that they have went and acted the way that they have.
“They have both shown incredible bravery in their actions.”
One resident said: “They went into action without a care for themselves, and I don’t think many people would have that kind of courage.”
“In my opinion, they are both heroes.”
But neither felt that their actions on Thursday night were anything special.
Mr Burns said: “I didn’t even think twice about it. I just got my set of ladders and climbed in.
“I didn’t even do that much, to be honest, Jim done most of the work, I was just there at the right time.”
Following the rescue, the 42-year-old woman was treated by medics at the scene. She was subsequently arrested and taken into custody by police.
Yorkshire Coast Homes, which owns and operate the flats, confirmed that the fire had damaged the interior of the flat, and that they have boarded it up.
And despite the heroism of both men, Mr Burnett said: “We would always recommend that if a fire does start, in every instance, call the fire service rather than trying to deal with the situation yourself.”
Homeless window cleaner tells his story of life on Richmond's streets
Dealing with the sense of loss left by a friend’s death is hard enough, but for one long-term Richmond resident the experience was made even worse when it led him to a life on the streets.Richard Dipple, 63, had until a month ago had been living in The Terrace in Richmond Hill when a cruel twist of fate left him without a home and living on a park bench in Richmond Green.
Yet despite his misfortune Mr Dipple remains upbeat.
He said: “I’m quite happy, I’ve always lived outdoors [though] I miss my old house I was living in and my nice little bed.
“I’m quite happy living out on the streets, I keep myself wrapped up and try to stay warm and sleep a bit early in the day and then can stay up all night. I’ve always managed to look after myself.”
Mr Dipple, who was wrapped in a blanket and abandoned at Hornchurch Cottage Homes orphanage as a baby, gets up early every morning to shave before heading to his job as a window cleaner.
The former grounds caretaker had been living in a basement flat in Richmond Hill as a sort of groundsman for the sprawling properties which are located in the heart of Richmond. But he was forced to revert to living on the streets after his benefactor, and friend of more than 20 years, died.
He said: “I lived in Richmond Hill on the Terrace for 22 years and I had a nice little basement flat room leading on to a garden. I looked after a large garden and also had to look after the communal parts with sweeping etc for the tenants.
“The lady I worked for, I worked for her for 20-odd years and she gave me a room. She was really sweet and lovely to me.”
But, despite his turn in fortune, Mr Dipple insisted he could not complain about his circumstances and thanked the residents living around Richmond Green for looking out for him for the past few weeks and their kind offers of tea, sandwiches and bread.
He said: “I’ve known Richmond and this green for years but I never realised what fine, kind people all these people are. They are wonderful people..”
Could you help Mr Dipple? Contact the newsroom on 020 8744 4274.
Source: http://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/9230684.Homeless_window_cleaner_tells_his_story/
Some pilots earn less than airport window washers
Airline pilots are widely seen as having some of the best jobs in America. In reality, pay for pilots has been on the decline for years. Recent salary records show that a rookie first officer on a regional airline flying out of San Francisco International Airport may be paid less than the worker who washes the airport’s windows.
First officers, sometimes called co-pilots, are second in command on commercial aircraft.
On regional airlines, their starting salaries range from about $20.50 to $29 per hour. That is significantly less than the skipper of a passenger ferry on San Francisco Bay, records compiled by California Watch show. Some earn less than toll takers on the Golden Gate Bridge or state prison nurses.
Pilots for regional airlines “are paid considerably less to work more hours,” says Brandon Macsata, executive director of the Association for Airline Passenger Rights, an independent organization of air travelers. “And it brings up safety concerns.”
Source: http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/some-pilots-earn-less-airport-window-washers-12398Alpharetta window cleaning business recognized
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September 02, 2011
Jon Mittleman, owner of Fish Window Cleaning in Alpharetta received the top sales award and the Navigator Award in St. Louis, Mo., where the company is based.
Mittleman added about 500 new customers during 2010. The Navigator Award was presented to Mittleman for his work with prospective new franchisees.