Wheelchair-Bound Girl Remains Trapped In Apartment 4 Months After Sandy Hit
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Recovery from Hurricane Sandy has been slow for lots of people in our area.
But for one little girl in Coney Island, the aftermath of the storm has left her trapped inside her apartment for months.
Schania Burgess, 8, is wheelchair-bound and has not been outside since Sandy hit.
Her mother said the elevators in their high-rise building on Surf Avenue and 24th Street have been out of order for months, leaving Schania a virtual prisoner in their third-floor apartment.
Burgess has not been able to go to school as a result and said she misses her friends and art class the most.
Instead, she is being home-schooled by an instructor.
As CBS 2's Kristine Johnson reported, Schania's mother said it's very frustrating as a parent.
"As you could see, she's in a wheelchair. You have to take her down the steps if you want to go outside and since the storm, like I said, she has not been outside at all," Scherry Barnett said.
Adding insult to injury, Schania's apartment is a duplex with the bedrooms downstairs. Since the elevators are not working, the little girl has to sleep on a cot next to the kitchen.
Scherry said she's fed up with the building and wants to move to an apartment that's "barrier free," but she said it's hard to find one for her and her four children.
CBS 2 tried to get in touch with the building's management to find out when the elevators would be fixed. A building security guard asked CBS 2 to leave the premises and calls to the management office were not returned.
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