周一，April Blanchard一边推着轮椅，一边和同伴闲聊着，进入了艾伦医疗大楼。突然，一张写有字的黄纸使她停在了门内5英尺的地方。
　　美国密歇根州贝城的这位65岁老妇人正要去见她的医生，咨询关于膀胱的问题。但是电梯上面的“故障”标签使得这一切变得不可能了。
　　“这让人非常不方便，”她说道，“我之前根本不知道电梯停止工作了，而且我的身体不能够爬楼梯。”
　　这栋三层大楼里的维护管理员，Mike Adams说，里面唯一的电梯的发动机上周二坏了。
　　“由于电梯已经使用49年了，我们不得不将发动机送去修理，”他说，“这不是我们能完全修理的东西。”
　　艾伦医疗大楼里的所有医生都不在底层，这使得所有坐轮椅的病人都倒霉了。
　　Adams还说，发动机坏的时候，大楼管理部门就通知了所有医生，并且建议他们至少在一周的时间里重新安排行动不便的病人的预约时间。
　　Ron Loessel说他妻子的肿瘤医生上周没有在见面前电话通知他们。
　　“我不得不抱着她爬了两层楼梯，”他说，“我去问前台，他们居然不能告诉我出什么问题了，也不说什么时候电梯能修好。”
　　Bodrie医生的办公室助理，Lisa Quarters说，因为电梯故障，他们不得不通知许多病人重新预约时间。
　　“这对我们的影响不是很大，”她说，“我们没有许多坐轮椅的病人，但大楼里的其他医生却有。这件事确实使人们很不方便。”
　　Loessel说大楼里的另一位医生在周一约定时间前几小时才通知他们重新安排。他认为，那个医生办公室里的员工根本不知道电梯何时才能重新工作，因此将他妻子的预约推迟了两周。
　　“那里有些人没做好工作，或没认真履行他们的职责，”他说，“如果不是我妻子，而是我遇到此事，我不会去见那里的任何医生。他们要不想到法子让病人去就诊，要不就关闭大楼。”
　　Adams说他们之前从未碰到这种电梯故障，正在努力使电梯尽快恢复工作。
　　“我们现在希望在周三或周四修好它，”他说，“但是一切都取决于发动机什么时候回来。”
　　“我们不想给医生或他们的病人造成任何不便。”

Broken elevator at Allen Medical Building leaves wheelchair patients stuck  
 

　　BAY CITY — April Blanchard rolled her wheelchair into Allen Medical Building on Monday, chatting with her companion, when a handwritten sign on yellow paper stopped her in her tracks five feet inside the doors.
　　The 65-year-old Bay City woman was on her way to see her doctor about a bladder issue, but a sign reading “Out of Order” taped to the elevator made that impossible.
　　“This is a very big inconvenience,” she said. “I had no clue the elevator wasn’t working and I don’t get around well enough to take the stairs.”
　　The motor in the only elevator in the three-floor building broke last Tuesday, said Mike Adams, maintenance supervisor for the building.
　　“Because of the age of this elevator — 49 years — we had to send the motor out for repairs,” he said. “This is not something we can just repair.”
　　None of the doctors in the Allen Medical Building are accessible from the ground floor, leaving all wheelchair-bound patients out of luck.
　　Adams added that when the motor broke, the building management notified all of the doctors in the building, suggesting they reschedule appointments for all mobility-challenged patients for at least a week.
　　Ron Loessel said his wife’s oncologist didn’t get around to making those calls before her appointment last week.
　　“I had to carry her up two flights of stairs,” he said. “I went to the information desk and they couldn’t even tell me what was wrong or when it would be fixed.”
　　Lisa Quarters, office manager for Dr. Bodrie, said they have had to call a number of patients to reschedule due to the elevator being out.
　　“It hasn’t been as bad for us,” she said. “We don’t have that many (wheelchair-bound) patients but there are other doctors in the building who do. It’s definitely been an inconvenience.”
　　Loessel said another physician from the building called mere hours before his wife’s appointment on Monday to reschedule. According to him, the staff in that doctor’s office had no idea when the elevator might be functioning again and pushed his wife’s appointment back two weeks because of it.
　　“Somebody isn’t doin' their job or taking their responsibilities very seriously there,” he said. “If it were me and not my wife, I wouldn’t go to any doctor in that building. They either need to find a way to get patients to their appointments or they should shut the building down.”
　　Adams said they have never had this kind of issue with the elevator before and are working hard to get it up and running as soon as possible.
　　“We’re hoping to have it fixed by mid-week,” he said. “But it all depends on when the motor comes back.
　　“We don’t want to inconvenience the doctors or their patients.”