Rachael Schlaht ‘Without NDAD, I wouldn’t have been able to do this. They’re a godsend’

Originally published in October of 2023

Rachael Schlaht recalls that her request for help from NDAD earlier this year wasn’t made with much confidence.

The former home daycare provider and cab driver, a Fargo resident who formerly lived in Turtle Lake, Mercer and Bismarck, knew nothing about the North Dakota charity.

Plus, she said, “I figured that with all the other people who had disabilities in Fargo that you guys would be swamped” with requests. “I figured that mine was going to be last on the list.”

Rachael figured incorrectly.

A few weeks after submitting her application, an email from NDAD’s Fargo client services representative, Kim Zeeb, erased Rachael’s doubts by confirming Schlaht’s approval.

"Yes, I was really surprised,” Rachael confirmed. “I was so elated, I couldn’t thank them enough.”

'Went the extra mile for me’
NDAD helped Rachael purchase a special scale that could be attached to a Hoyer lift, a type of hydraulic body transfer for home use by people with limited mobility.

Rachael has chronic kidney disease and is a type 2 diabetic with both limited mobility and finances. She also is an amputee, the result of gangrene in her right leg following a broken tibia several years ago.

She is relying on a weight monitoring program to keep her health challenges from worsening. When frequent access to a roll-on scale was ruled out, Rachael learned from a Cass County social worker that NDAD may be able to help her attain a scale to use on her Hoyer lift.

 Throughout the process, Rachael says, NDAD’s Zeeb “has always been available when I’ve needed her. She’s always answered back by email if she couldn’t reach me by phone. Gets to me as soon as she can.”

Without NDAD’s assist, Rachael said, “It would have taken me months to get the money together in order to be able to get that scale.”

For that reason, she didn’t hesitate to recommend NDAD’s charitable assistance.

“You guys are great,” Rachael said. “Your services are always available, and the fact that you guys have covered that scale for me and went the extra mile . . . really made me happy.”