Volunteer Spotlight: Justin Tirelli Transforms a Bathroom—and a Family’s Daily Life

by Leon Rubis

Caring for elderly parents is not easy, especially when lack of mobility turns everyday tasks into major challenges.

After Ms. R’s mother suffered a second stroke, she could no longer walk. Unhappy with the care her mother was receiving in a nursing home, Ms. R and her husband—both retired Arlington County employees—moved her mom, now 93, into their South Arlington home about a year ago.

But lifting her mother into their bathtub to bathe was difficult and risky for Ms. R, 72. In Home Depot she found a kit for cutting out a section of the fiberglass tub to create a lower entry way. “It came out pretty good but it still was not easy for me. I still needed another person to help me.” Her husband, 83, has difficulty walking.

The family resorted to renting hotel rooms with wheelchair acces ible showers for her mother two or three times a month, at a cost of $150-$200 each time.

While cleaning one day, Ms. R rediscovered a page she had printed many years ago from Rebuilding Together-AFF’s website, thinking it might be helpful someday. Desperate for a permanent solution, she called RT and asked for help.

A custom solution

“Our mission was to create a wheelchair-accessible shower,” says Justin Tirelli, a volunteer with bathroom remodeling experience who planned and led work on the project. “It was an unorthodox way of doing it, but we cut the tub out, installed a new shower pan and drain,” and sealed the remaining fiberglass walls to the new basin.

Aided by volunteers Marvin Greenberg and Gene Skotzko, the team completed the project in just two days, “amazingly” encountering no hidden problems such as mold, rotten wood or leaks.

Ms. R is “ecstatic” with the rebuilt shower now safely usable by both her mother and husband.

Justin said the shower reduces the risk of injury to both women and saves the family money and time. “It was very labor intensive just to get her mom out of the home into the car and then into a hotel.”

Firefighting and moonlighting

This project—more extensive than most RT-AFF repair jobs—and some other recent bathroom repairs were made possible by Tirelli’s unique expertise. As an Arlington County firefighter since 2000, Tirelli often worked the standard 24-hour shift alternating with days off. The schedule allowed him to take part-time construction jobs in which he picked up skills, starting with his first fire captain’s remodeling business.

In 2015, he began his own bathroom remodeling business for a few years until the combined workload became too demanding.

While Ms. R’s bathroom overhaul was more than most families need, it exemplifies RT-AFF’s mission to help people maintain safe homes, age in place and cope with disabilities. Bathroom grab bars, stair rails, exterior ramps, better lighting, and removal of tripping hazards are frequent improvements the organization makes at no cost to eligible clients.

Now a battalion chief responsible for training Arlington firefighters, Tirelli says one of his favorite things about working with RT-AFF is passing on his knowledge. “I love working with people who don’t know how to do this stuff and I can show them some of the things I do.”

He encourages interested people to try out RT’s flexible volunteer opportunities even if they lack do-it-yourself skills. “These kinds of projects are some of the most fulfilling things you can ever do. If anybody wants to do something and learn a little bit, this is a great way to do that.”