The Virginian Pilot, VA, USA
Blind man teaches independence to blind client
By Elizabeth Simpson
Caption: By his side Tim Ferebee, with his guide dog Apache, leads Nick Tambasco
on a walk in Virginia Beach. Both Ferebee and Tambasco are blind.
DELORES JOHNSON/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
It's a cliché that even Tim Ferebee can't resist, so let's get it out of the
way.
This is a story about the blind leading the blind.
Ferebee says it with a wry smile, as if to acknowledge that someone's going to
bring it up, and it might as well be him.
Besides, he's pretty confident about where he leads, so no offense taken.
The 35-year-old Virginia Beach man has a job caring for people with
disabilities; Nick Tambasco happens to be his main client.
Neither of them can see.
Technically, Ferebee has 1 percent of his vision left - he can see shadows.
When Ferebee first asked about becoming a respite worker - someone who cares for
disabled people to give their family caregivers a break - the program's
coordinator hesitated.
Nancy Allan - who directs Virginia Beach Respite Care for the Elderly - had
never had a blind applicant. She knew she couldn't prevent him from taking the
training - there are laws about that. But she wondered whether clients would be
willing to hire him once he finished.
She told him, "Let's see how it goes."
Ferebee took the classes in September 2005, and a year and a half later, the job
is working out well, thanks to both his personality and that of his canine
companion.
That would be Apache, a yellow Labrador and Ferebee's guide dog for the past
five years.
Apache accompanied Ferebee through the 25 hours of respite care training and
even got his own certificate at the end. It was nothing compared with the two
years of training the 7-year-old pooch had been through to become Ferebee's
guide dog.
The man and dog have been a working duo ever since.
At first, Allan was apprehensive about broaching Ferebee's disability with
families. He's younger than the usual respite worker, strong, energetic,
dependable, cheerful - all wonderful attributes - but sooner or later she had to
get around to:
"Oh, and by the way, he can't see."
She was surprised at how open people were to the idea.
Ferebee's first client was a 78-year-old man who was losing his vision and his
memory at the same time. Apache would lead the two on walks in the Great Neck
area. The client liked the Lab so much, he started telling people Apache was his
dog.
That client has since moved into a long-term care facility, but Ferebee has two
others to care for now.
Tambasco, 68, his main client, had been living in New York until last year.
That's when his sister, Mary Hawker, got word from a police detective that he
needed help. Tambasco had lost almost all his vision after a stroke.
Last April, Hawker moved the retired civil engineer to Virginia Beach, where he
lives with his nephew, Hawker's son.
Ferebee started working with Tambasco in October and now spends four hours a
day, four days a week with him. They listen to television, talk and go for
walks. Ferebee teaches him small things to keep him as independent as possible -
how to get a glass of water, how to hold his hand a certain way to orient
himself down hallways.
"We all tend to want to take over and baby people, but Tim can come up with ways
to help Nick do it because he's had to learn it himself," Allan said.
Ferebee's eye problems began in childhood. He received his first pair of glasses
at 7 when things started appearing at a slant. Later, he developed color
blindness, than lost his night vision. Knocking over his own soccer teammates at
Indian River High School in Chesapeake was the first sign his peripheral vision
was sliding too.
He was a 21-year-old business student at Tidewater Community College when he was
diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive eye disease that erodes the
vision of one in 4,000 people in the United States.
"It's depressing, but you deal with it," Ferebee said. "I was working for Dollar
Tree in Chesapeake when I found out. I took the night off. If you don't stay
busy, you think about it constantly."
He's been told his eyesight will not improve.
Tambasco, on the other hand, had a cornea transplant last week. He hopes it will
restore some of his vision. He should know in about six months how successful
the implant was.
Regardless, Hawker will continue to employ Ferebee so Tambasco will have the
companionship. "Nick's perked up," Hawker said. "He's learned to do more for
himself."
Last Tuesday, the tags around Apache's neck jingled as he guided Ferebee and
Tambasco through a quiet neighborhood in the Pembroke area. Apache nudged
Ferebee around parked cars as Ferebee listened for traffic.
"The first time we took a walk, I got turned around," Ferebee said. "Let's put
it this way: That was a long walk. Instead of a mile and half, it was two miles.
I wore Nick out."
Tambasco chuckled at the memory.
Ferebee hopes to go to Norfolk State University in the fall to get a degree in
social work. Eventually, he'd like to become a rehabilitation specialist.
But he'll continue for now as a respite worker, helping others through the
darkness he faces every day.
"Little bit closer to me, Nick; I don't want you to be in the middle of the
street," Ferebee said, his hand reaching out for Tambasco's elbow. "Apache,
you're doing great. We're not in a race. Slow and steady."
Reach Elizabeth Simpson at (757) 446-2635 or elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com.
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