Published: Monday, March 23, 1998
Section: LOCAL
Page: 1B
A simple medical exam can be a daunting experience for Edward Resnick.
"I can't stand up and do anything,'' said Resnick, 72. "In most instances, I can't fit in a dressing room. If I get into a hospital room, I can't use the bathroom. It's not handicap accessible, and they're supposed to have a certain number that are. I can go on and on.''
Through Access Now, an organization he set up five months ago with wife Phyllis, Resnick has been negotiating with hospitals for change. Now he has lawsuits pending in federal court against six of those hospitals for allegedly violating the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Among his complaints: Bathrooms are inaccessible; handicap parking spaces near entrances are too narrow; check-in counters inside are too high.
With seven lawyers working pro bono, he's also taking on some of the larger hotels and restaurants throughout the county. The goal, Resnick said, is to work down from the top.
"Hopefully everyone who runs businesses will get the message,'' he said. "Call their architects and consultants and start doing what they should do.''
Most disabled men, Resnick said, have to stay in their wheelchairs for heart tests or prostate exams. Women complain about the difficulty of getting mammograms and gynecological exams. The reason, Resnick said: Most doctors' offices and hospitals don't have the personnel they need to lift someone out of a wheelchair and onto a table.
A table that goes up and down could easily solve that problem, Resnick said. But suggestions to administrators sometimes are ignored. So Resnick is making them take notice.
Disabled people have few choices, Resnick said.
Filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights division, which administers the ADA, doesn't get one very far.
"They're inundated,'' he said. "They only get involved in high-profile cases.''
When it comes to protecting the rights of disabled residents, state statutes are so weak, they don't merit a mention, he said.
By taking the hospitals to court, Resnick said Access Now is trying to make a high-profile statement on behalf of the 43 million disabled Americans. So far, the organization has only about two dozen members, but the Resnicks expect that number to increase in coming weeks as they mail out hundreds of letters about the organization.
"In my mind, it's payback time,'' said Resnick, who practiced law until
retirement in 1982. "I was fortunate enough to get to retire and live my
life, and I felt I owed a debt to the community. My debt is going to be
paid off by doing something for the disabled.''
Suits the last resort
Getting institutions such as hospitals to make changes is like pushing an elephant, he said. Some are willing to cooperate; others are ready to fight to the death. Filing suits is the last resort, he said.
"They're doing nothing but building up fees and time,'' he said. "I frankly don't understand the reason. It's surprising how much bad legal advice some of these people get.''
Parkway Regional Medical Center is one of the hospitals on Resnick's
lawsuit hit list. Spokeswoman Lori Fein said administrators are using input
from Access Now to add ramps, parking spaces, handrails and Braille signs,
among other improvements. "All new construction is done with the disabled
in mind,'' she said.
No militant approach
Vilma Hernandez-Cestino of Palmetto General Hospital said the hospital is aware of the issues outlined in the suit. "We're working as quickly as possible to resolve them,'' she said.
Resnick says he's not a militant. That's why he left the Association of Disabled Americans, another Miami-Dade County organization he headed for two years before starting Access Now. He felt that some people in that organization wanted to hit the business people over the head, he said, make them go to extremes.
"The activism is wonderful,'' he said. "I have a problem with the way they go about solving the problem. I thought it could be done in a much more equitable, fairer, less costly way.''
With Access Now, he said, he gets to pick the lawyers, pick the consultants.
"I can use my background to bring about change and get satisfaction
from it,'' he said.
Daniel Ruiz, vice president of Association of Disabled Americans, said
there is no animosity between the two organizations.
"I learned a lot from Ed,'' said Ruiz, who witnessed the final disagreement
between the association's leadership and Resnick. "We can have combined
efforts with the same goal. We can have as many organizations as possible
fighting for the disabled and it won't be enough.''
Contracted polio
As a young man growing up on South Beach, Resnick was familiar with the hotels and restaurants there. His father leased and operated the Park Central Hotel on Ocean Drive. Resnick went on to attend the University of Florida's law school, where he finished first in the class of 1950.
Shortly after coming home to set up his practice, he contracted polio -- six months before the vaccine came out. Phyllis, 66, whom Resnick met while working as a bellhop during a summer in the New York mountains and married two years later, became his legs and hands. It wasn't until six years ago that he got a motorized chair.
The couple has a daughter who is a screenwriter in Hollywood, and two grandchildren.
They lived in Aventura for eight years because builders were willing to design for Resnick's needs.
Meanwhile, they were beginning to get lessons in intolerance. They would
get thrown out of theaters because the aisles were not wide enough for
his wheelchair.
Active in Beach politics
South Beach was just beginning to come alive again when they moved back. But ``place after place he couldn't get in,'' Phyllis said.
It was frustrating, Resnick said.
"I couldn't eat inside or on the terraces,'' he said. "If I had to use the restroom, I couldn't get in. I was not a second-class citizen, I was a third-class citizen. Nobody really cared.''
For six years, he chaired the Mayor's Ad Hoc Barrier Free Environment Committee, got Miami Beach to hire an ADA consultant and got the building department to train inspectors on ADA rules.
Resnick has more than a passing interest in Miami Beach. He has chaired the South Pointe Advisory Committee, which proposes ways to improve the area he considers home.
His involvement in Beach life has brought him his share of controversy, too. Last year, he chaired the Portofino-backed Miami Beach Citizens Against Higher Taxes. The group unsuccessfully tried to defeat a charter amendment requiring a public referendum whenever a developer wants to build more on waterfront property than current zoning allows.
Targeting Ocean Drive
Now he's trying to get Miami Beach to count outside tables at restaurants on Ocean Drive and Lincoln Road in the formula they use to figure the number of bathrooms, an unpopular idea with restaurateurs.
But he has fans, too, like attorney David Marko, with whom he has butted heads over handicap access at the Raleigh Hotel. The negotiations were not going anywhere until Resnick sat down with him, said Marko of the firm de la O, Marko & Wang.
"We were able to find common ground,'' Marko said.
Now Resnick has enlisted Marko to help fight the hospitals.
"I'm doing it for the disabled,'' Marko said.
Resnick recently worked out a deal with the Days Inn on North Beach
to make the 93-room hotel disability-friendly. His mantra is that all those
changes were readily achievable, without going to court.
Won't stand for excuses
Six months ago, he took on the Park Central Hotel, which his father used to manage. Resnick was sensitive about preserving the historic nature of the 1937 hotel, said owner Tony Goldman.
"We were able to find solutions that got us to where we needed to be,'' Goldman said. He was able to help us without having to disfigure the aesthetic beauty of the place.''
Resnick insists he's not trying to put anyone out of business, especially small places struggling to get by. One thing he won't stand for, though, is excuses about what can't be done.
"They tell you it's because this is historic, or they can't put bathrooms outside because of the homeless,'' he said. "These people are not going to comply until we put their feet to the fire.''
To reach Access Now, call (305) 534-9509.