Tile Setters Local 18 apprentices help make home wheelchair accessible

Union brother’s daughter injured in car accident

By TIM ROWDEN

Editor-in-Chief

O’Fallon, MO – Tile Setters Local 18’s Tile, Marble & Terrazzo Apprenticeship school was recently contacted by an estimator from one of their signatory contractors. A friend of his, Heather Edmiston, was involved in a car accident and is facing the possibility of being in a wheelchair indefinitely.

Her father, Rick Edmiston, needed to make his house wheelchair accessible. That entailed making all flooring surfaces the same plane with seamless transitions. Local 18 installed new flooring and a shower system that would meet Heather’s new reality.

A union plumber and union drywall installer also donated their work.

The Local 18 Apprentice Program received donated and discounted materials for the project from Virginia Tile, R&F Tile and Floor & Décor. With these materials, the apprentices were able to build a walk-in shower, a tiled bathroom floor with wainscot and a laminate floor for the bedroom. The apprentices completed this volunteer project within three weeks of being contacted by the Edmiston family.

“We are of this community and for this community,” said Local 18 Apprentice Coordinator Charlie Reiter. “Hopefully, the transition to this new reality for Heather, will be made a little less onerous by having a handicap-accessible bathroom.

“Heather’s brother is friends with an estimator from one of our signatory contractors. He (the estimator) reached out to us from R&F Tile and Marble and provided tile and marble for the project.”

Local 18 is regularly involved in community outreach, Reiter said, and recently began working with Rebuilding St. Louis Together to vet volunteer projects for those most in need.

‘GODSEND’
Rick Edmiston is a union millwright at the GM facility in Wentzville.

“They did a great job,” he said of Reiter and the apprentices who performed the work. “He was a godsend and came along right when I needed somebody to come along.

“A big ‘thank you’ to the Tile Setters, Electrical Workers, Plumbers and Drywall Tapers (Painters), UAW and carpenter millwright,” he added.

Rick Edmiston said the accident happened on Sept. 12 on the exit off of I-70 at Forest Park Parkway. Heather’s Chevy Cruze left the roadway and rolled over three times before coming to a stop next to a tree upside down about 100 yards from where she exited the highway. Heather suffered a bruised spine and multiple fractures, including a broken left leg, four fractures to her right leg and a shattered hip that required a plate to repair.

“She’s lucky to be alive,” Rick Edmiston said. “She was in a Chevy Cruze. Those are supposed to be good in crash situations. I think that saved her life. That, and having her seatbelt on.

“Right now, her mom and me are taking care of her,” Edmiston said, “but she’s doing really good. If she tries really hard she can get some movement in her leg. She’s got a great attitude. I’ve never seen her down. She’s always smiling and happy. She was in a wedding a couple of weeks ago, and is applying for rehabilitative treatment at the Shirly Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago.”

A GoFundMe account has been established to help the family with expenses at https://www.gofundme.com/f/heathers-hea ling-goals.