By Morgan Rousseau/Daily News staff
NORTHBRIDGE —
EDITOR’S NOTE: Second in an ongoing series following students at Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School in Upton as they help build a new home for the Murray family in Northbridge.
A push to make life easier for a Northbridge family is in full swing, with students from Upton’s Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School working together to raise money, draft home designs, and improve household technology for impaired twin boys.
Amy and Chris Murray of Benson Road are grateful for the ongoing efforts of the vocational students, who, since September, have been working to build a new, more accessible home for them, their 6-year-old daughter Katie, and their 9-year-old twins Michael and Eric. The twins live with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, a condition that makes it difficult for them to control their movement.
The students have made architectural blueprints for the new home; sold bracelets, shirts and holiday cards to raise money for the effort; repaired the boys’ oxygen delivery system; conceived a surveillance system to monitor the boys; and much more.
Amy and Chris, both early ’90s graduates of Valley Tech, have lived in their current split-level home for 13 years. However, as their boys have grown, caring for them has become more difficult.
The Murrays have to lift their sons around the home, as well as in and out of bed, and cannot leave them unattended, even if they are just a few rooms away.
Information technology student Nicole Macari said video and medical technology could monitor the boys while the parents are doing simple things, like cooking or cleaning in another room.
“Everything will be wireless, and easy to access. (Amy) has an Android phone, so she will be able to keep an eye on them and look at their pulse and oxygen (levels) on her phone if she’s not with the boys,” Macari said.
The technology will allow the Murrays to record their sons’ behavior, which can then be shown to doctors for health analysis, Amy Murray said.
“I am in constant contact with them (the students),” she said. “They keep us up-to-date with what they are doing, and where they are at in the project. We are always setting up new appointments.”
Drafting student Eli Lurie is heading up the architectural drawings of the home, and said the plans, which feature more accessible hallways and open spaces, are nearly done.
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A push to make life easier for a Northbridge family is in full swing, with students from Upton’s Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School working together to raise money, draft home designs, and improve household technology for impaired twin boys.
Amy and Chris Murray of Benson Road are grateful for the ongoing efforts of the vocational students, who, since September, have been working to build a new, more accessible home for them, their 6-year-old daughter Katie, and their 9-year-old twins Michael and Eric. The twins live with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, a condition that makes it difficult for them to control their movement.
The students have made architectural blueprints for the new home; sold bracelets, shirts and holiday cards to raise money for the effort; repaired the boys’ oxygen delivery system; conceived a surveillance system to monitor the boys; and much more.
Amy and Chris, both early ’90s graduates of Valley Tech, have lived in their current split-level home for 13 years. However, as their boys have grown, caring for them has become more difficult.
The Murrays have to lift their sons around the home, as well as in and out of bed, and cannot leave them unattended, even if they are just a few rooms away.
Information technology student Nicole Macari said video and medical technology could monitor the boys while the parents are doing simple things, like cooking or cleaning in another room.
“Everything will be wireless, and easy to access. (Amy) has an Android phone, so she will be able to keep an eye on them and look at their pulse and oxygen (levels) on her phone if she’s not with the boys,” Macari said.
The technology will allow the Murrays to record their sons’ behavior, which can then be shown to doctors for health analysis, Amy Murray said.
“I am in constant contact with them (the students),” she said. “They keep us up-to-date with what they are doing, and where they are at in the project. We are always setting up new appointments.”
Drafting student Eli Lurie is heading up the architectural drawings of the home, and said the plans, which feature more accessible hallways and open spaces, are nearly done.
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