Time
Ken Regan—meeting people
with MS where they live
by Vicky Uhland
After Ken Regan, vice president of Ardsley, N. Y.-based Regan Development, was
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
in 1993, he turned to the
National MS Society for help.
“I was so pleased with the
support and information they
gave me at a difficult time in
my life that I wanted to give
back,” he says. So Regan, whose
company specializes in building
affordable and special-needs
housing, asked Society staff
members what they needed.
“They told me that every day,
A developer with a heart—and MS—builds
accessible apartments to meet an
untapped need.
they get calls from people who
are not appropriately housed
because of their MS—perhaps
they live in a second-floor
walkup, or their apartment is
too expensive—issues like that,”
he explains.
With Society staff, Regan
helped form a task force of
people with experience in
accessible housing and MS
to discuss how the Society
could do more to meet the
residential needs of people
with MS. As a result of those
discussions, Regan wrote
“Developing Housing for the
MS Community,” a step-by-step
handbook that local builders can
use as a guide for financing and
constructing accessible housing.
In addition, Regan’s company
built the first of what he
hopes will be many apartment
complexes designed specifically
for people with MS.
Ken Regan visits with Samantha Hicks at Kershaw Commons.
A ‘commons’ cause
Kershaw Commons in Freehold
Township, N.J., opened in
2011 and consists of 30 fully
accessible rental apartments
with helpful features such as
automatic door openers, slide-out shelving in the kitchens and
linen closets, accessible light and
thermostat controls, and transfer
showers.
Photos by MAUreen Krenz
On site, the Society offers
MS-related educational lectures,
as well as social programming
and support services. In
addition, residents are able
to access nursing and therapy
