tetra-25

Throughout 2012, the Tetra Society of North America will be celebrating its 25^th anniversary.

The society was started in 1987 by Sam Sullivan, after engineering solutions – provided free of charge – revolutionized his life. Tetra has grown over the past quarter of a century, but remains true to his original vision: volunteers providing a personal service.

Sullivan became tetraplegic after he broke his neck in a 1979 skiing accident, at age 19. He subsequently spent seven years on welfare, battling depression, haunted by the dilemma: how do you get a job if you can’t feed or dress yourself?

He detailed how he would meet up with a couple of others at GF Strong Rehab Centre, Vancouver, to “gripe about how hard it was to get things done.” They ultimately decided to combine their resources to hire an engineer, but found this would cost $700 an hour, far more than a month’s welfare cheque.

Sullivan contacted the industry’s regulatory group, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (APEG BC). His plea for volunteers, printed in the group’s newsletter, was met by Vancouver engineer Paul Cermak.

“Paul said, ‘Give me an idea of your problems’,” recalled Sullivan. “I reached for the freezer. I was able to pull the freezer door open, but it was on a spring, and it would spring back.

“I turned around and Paul was nowhere to be seen. He had gone into my bedroom and taken a coat hanger. He unraveled it. I put the hook to the freezer door and it opened. I’d been trying to do it for months, and it was done!

“I remember once saying to him: ‘Paul, I’m going to pay you for that.’ He said: ‘No, Sam, I found it in my workshop.’

“Jay Drew showed up a little later – who is the second longest-serving Tetra volunteer.”

These projects revolutionized his life, Sullivan said. They solved everyday issues, such as having loops sewn into his socks that enabled him to dress himself, or enabling him to open his apartment door. It soon became apparent that many others needed this kind of help, and Tetra was incorporated in December 1987.

Looking back over the growth of Tetra, Sullivan takes credit for nothing more than bringing these compassionate, highly skilled people together with people that have a need for help.

“We do not provide the energy, we release it,” he added. “There’s so much energy in a community, people wanting to do something for other people. So much love.”

Cermak, who has remained a Tetra volunteer, recalled his initial contact with Sullivan.

“I had just retired,” he said. “I was reading the APEG BC magazine and doing the things I did not have time to do before. There was a letter asking for volunteers. I said ‘why not?’

“I called Sam. We went for a coffee. He said he needed three or so improvements to his personal living arrangements.

“Volunteering with Tetra is very interesting. It helps people to resume the life they had before their accident, or some disease, or else to help people to be involved in a sport, and so on.

“Work somehow required most of my time, but when I retired I thought I could help. I keep getting interesting projects that need working on, and meeting interesting people at the same time.”

Jay Drew, of Tsawwassen, BC, began with Tetra in 1991 after reading a call for volunteers, and has become central to the Vancouver chapter. He has more than 200 inventions to his name.

“All my life I felt I was meant to do something,” said Drew. “There’s a reason I’m here. I don’t know what that is. . . but it gives me satisfaction and a sense of purpose to do something for someone that they cannot do themselves.

“Helping other people gives you a sense of fulfillment, and that’s what’s makes you happy. People striving to find happiness only for themselves are doing everything wrong.”

In 1999, he received the R.A. McLachlan Memorial Award, given by APEG BC to recognize “an individual who has combined a solid professional career with outstanding service to the community,” and then the CBC Golden Heart Award in 2004. In addition, in Jan 2007 Drew received the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award at a ceremony in Victoria, BC.

In a congratulatory letter, then Premier Gordon Campbell stated Drew was “a very worthy recipient” of the award. “The unique tools and personal installation service that you provide to the physically challenged have really made a difference in the lives of those that you have helped,” added Campbell.

In 2006, as Mayor of Vancouver, Sullivan hoisted the Olympic and Paralympic flags at the Winter Olympics stadium in Turin, Italy using a wheelchair flag-holder. . . designed by Tetra.