IBERIA PARISH (NEW IBERIA) — Residents at a senior apartment complex in Iberia Parish are facing serious accessibility issues after the only elevator in the building broke down in early July—and there’s no clear timeline for repairs.
The School Days Apartments house more than 100 New Iberia residents age 55 and older—many of whom use wheelchairs or walkers. It's been without a functioning elevator for over a month. For those living on upper floors, that means being effectively trapped in their apartments.
“She’s been in this apartment for five years,” said Sylvia Madejewski, whose 80-year-old mother lives on an upper floor. “The elevator broke at the beginning of July, and since then, she hasn’t been able to leave.”
Madejewski said the situation has reached a critical point.
“Most of the tenants are either wheelchair- or walker-assisted, and because the elevator’s broken, no one’s been able to leave their floor in a month and a half,” she said.
KATC reached out to the property’s local management, who directed all inquiries to HRI Management, based in New Orleans.
In a statement provided to KATC, HRI Management President Tonya Hall said:
We are fully aware of the challenges the current elevator outage has created and want to assure residents, families, and the broader community that we are doing everything in our power to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Since the elevator became inoperable, our onsite team has been actively supporting our residents by conducting regular wellness checks, ensuring residents receive meals and important deliveries, as well as coordinating with the local fire department to help residents attend critical medical appointments, including dialysis and chemotherapy.
These efforts reflect our team’s commitment to the health and dignity of every resident we serve. We also have had management and maintenance support on call 24 hours a day for any other resident emergent issues.
We have been in daily communication with our elevator vendor, Thyssen Krupp, who was immediately called when the outage occurred. They are under an annual maintenance contract to ensure optimal service of the equipment and arrived within the first hour of the outage to begin necessary assessment and repairs.
Unfortunately, due to the age of the equipment, the part was not readily available, and it took time for the vendor to determine and provide an accurate estimate of what was needed, and to attain parts required for the repair. We have requested and given full authorization to pay additional fees to expedite parts, delivery and have also authorized overtime for installation and other repair services.
We greatly value and share the concerns of our residents but ultimately are at the mercy of the elevator provider and their ability to find needed parts to service the elevator. The part has been confirmed for delivery tomorrow, and installation will immediately start upon receipt, and we are hopeful the elevators will be fully operational again mid-week.
But Madejewski said those efforts have fallen short.
“It’s only by special request,” she said. “When my mother asked to have something brought up, they told her she wasn’t on the list and said, ‘We don’t run a hotel—come get it yourself.’”
According to Hall, a technician responded to the initial elevator outage within an hour, but due to the elevator’s age, a necessary replacement part was unavailable. A full system replacement is now required — a fix that could take weeks, if not months.
“To my knowledge, the apartment complex has not made any concessions for this, whatsoever,” Madejewski added.
She said she’s now moving her mother out of the building and into her own home, citing safety and accessibility concerns.
“I want to see a rent reduction. I don’t even think they should be paying rent right now,” she said.
There is currently no official timeline for when the new elevator will be installed or operational. HRI Management has not confirmed whether financing for the replacement has been secured.
KATC will continue to follow this story and provide updates as more information becomes available.
