Deborah Politz has a heart condition, and her medical service dog “Kaylee” helps keep her safe inside her home on 17th Street SW in Akron.
“She brings my medication bag to me for my heart, and if I go down, she helps me out,” Politz said.
However, the 65-year-old woman said she also worries about the possibility of her or her husband tripping and falling because of the very uneven sidewalk in front of her house.
“It’s bad. It’s really bad,” she said, “I’m very worried because we walk across that and the chances of one of us falling and breaking a hip.”
News 5 Cleveland The family even put up lights on the front of the house to guard against falls and cameras in case someone goes down.
Politz, who has lived in the home since she was 4 years old, said roots from a tree have pushed up the sidewalk over the years, making it a tripping hazard.
“It get worse every year. It raises up a little bit higher and higher,” she said.
There are examples of sidewalks in bad shape all over town. Many are uneven with big drops. Others have sizable cracks or just falling apart from old age.