Residents at Jax 55 and over community trapped in their homes yet again because of broken elevator

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Some senior citizens are trapped in their homes. The elevator at the Meetinghouse at Collins Cove apartment complex has been out of service for several weeks -- and some elderly folks who live on the second and third floors haven’t been able to leave.

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Residents tell Action News Jax that it’s been three weeks since they’ve had the elevator working.

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And the apartment complex is advertised as a 55 and up community -- so it’s affecting several folks who cannot physically walk down the stairs.

84-year-old Carolyn Samuel says she has been stuck on the third floor of her apartment building for weeks.

“I have not been able to go out,” Samuel said. “You know, because I can’t walk the steps three, three flights down.”

She says the elevator in building three has been “Out of Order” since April 17th. And Samuel is walker-bound so she can’t physically walk down the stairs.

“I am very frustrated and upset and appalled at their disregard for senior citizens and their safety for number one, and not even considering their health concerns,” Samuel’s daughter Arlene Dixon said.

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Samuel’s daughter and granddaughter are worried for her.

“It’s frustrating, and deplorable,” Samuel’s granddaughter Tashina Dixon said. “When your main source of getting to and from your apartment to ground level is out, you’re pretty much trapped.”

And she isn’t the only one.

“Ms. Hope she has had back surgery and she has a dog, so she has not been able to take her dog out,” Samuel said.

The Meetinghouse at Collins Cove apartment complex is a 55 and up community and many either use wheelchairs, walkers, or are limited in some capacity.

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Samuel says the property manager told them the elevator is missing a part, but we’re on week three now and it hasn’t been fixed yet.

“It’s really frustrating to think that the complex [dis]regard the safety of the residents and making sure that’s priority one – that you get anything that’s broken fixed as fast as you can -- in a timely manner,” Arlene said.

The problem has gone on for so long, it’s affected their lives.

“I’ve had to reschedule appointments,” Arlene said.

“I can’t go down and do things I normally do,” Samuel said. “I take my trash out, I go grocery shopping, I go to church. So, I haven’t been able to do any of that.”

And this isn’t the first time the elevator has broken down. Action News Jax has reported on this problem before – once in August last year and another time, October 2022.

“So it’s like, they’re temporarily slapping band-aids on it just to temporarily fix it,” Tanisha said.

Action News Jax Annette Gutierrez called the property manager asking them about the elevator problem, and they told her it’s “always a priority” but they did not want to comment officially. Instead, they shared the contact information for the elevator service. So, Gutierrez called them, and that company told her to reach out to the apartment complex.

“It’s just ludicrous that they don’t regard the well-being of theirs, their residents at all, and that’s disheartening,” Arlene said.

After weeks of trying to get ahold of management, Samuel says she finally spoke with them today, and they said the part hasn’t come in yet.

Now, Samuel’s family says they may have to resort to calling fire rescue to get their mom out for Mother’s Day. If nothing changes by the end of the week, they will do just that.

The elevator service company issued this statement:

“The satisfaction of TK Elevator’s customers is, along with safety, its top priority. With this in mind, TK Elevator has reached out to its customer to work through the issue and expedite the repair.”

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