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Seniors at Angus apartment complex forced to take stairs due to broken elevator

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Residents living in a seniors apartment complex in Angus are speaking out about being forced to take the stairs for over a month.

Nearly a dozen Angus Gardens tenants, many of whom struggle with mobility, told CTV News Sunday that the building's elevator shut down in early June for repairs, but no progress has been made.

"Everyone in the building has medical problems; it's not like we're young kids," said Betty Crawford, a resident.

Crawford, who turns 91 next week, said she has lived in the building for decades, and over that time, the elevator has had little to no disruptions.

The long-time resident is now making routine trips up and down the stairs to do her daily activities — a change that has taken a toll on her and many other tenants.

"I'm up and down two to three times a day, and by evening when I relax, the pain is unbelievable," said Roberta White, who is months away from hip surgery.

A notice attributed to Bayshore Property Management has been posted around the building with information about the elevator disruption.

According to one notice, "the elevator has suffered a catastrophic failure whereby the main elevator jack has developed a leak."

The letter says that this type of failure is rare and unpreventable.

"The actual work is not lengthy, but the problem is getting the piping," the letter reads.

"The shortages in the international supply chains are deeply affecting elevator parts, and we are unsure at this time what the time frame is."

The note goes on to say that they have been warned that it could take up to ten weeks to get the parts.

A time stamp at the top of the letter reads June 8, 2022.

"Two to three months? What do they expect us to do? Die?" said Karen Hall, another resident.

The growing anger amongst tenants stems from the delay in service and what they call a lack of communication.

Over the past few weeks, the building has tried to find a temporary solution to help residents get by.

"We will have Nick to help out (with stairs) for the period of time we have the elevator out of service," reads the memo attributed to the building.

"The help is such as: take up grocery, take down the stairs laundry basket, dog or other light items up or down the stairs."

Although, all within a two-hour window on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

"This is great that Nick is here but two hours a day? Sometimes it takes two hours to go to one store and come back. So, he can't help that many people," said Donna Trueman, another resident.

Many tenants said they have had to rely on family members to fill the gaps.

CTV News has attempted to contact the property management company about the elevator disruption and have yet to hear back.

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