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- Home Depot employees in Georgia built a two-year-old with hypotonia a walker out of PVC pipes.
- The story went viral, but some critics took issue with outlets that presented it as a feel-good piece.
- Instead, commenters argued that families shouldn’t have to turn to Home Depot to receive affordable healthcare.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Nearly one month ago, Christian Moore asked her Facebook friends where she could purchase a "cheap crocodile gait trainer" for her two-year-old, Logan.
Logan has hypotonia, also known as floppy baby syndrome, which results in low muscle tone. And Moore said that the family wasn’t getting much help from their health insurance.
"His insurance is being ridiculous and they are very expensive," she wrote. On the website MedicalEShop, the crocodile gait trainer sells for $666.
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Rather than purchase a walker outright, Moore and her family decided to purchase supplies at Home Depot in order to build their own trainer.
Instead of charging the Georgia family for the supplies, the Home Depot employees ended up sending the Moores off to buy ice cream and constructing Logan a walker out of PVC pipe themselves.
"Everyone was crying to see Logan walk around with the biggest smile on his face and when the family tried to pay us we said no way this one is on us," a Home Depot employee wrote on Facebook. "Thanks to all that help and for being a blessing to this family and to this little guy."
"We’re extremely proud of our associates for living our values and going above and beyond to take care of Logan and his family," a Home Depot spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider.
The story went viral, with NBC and NowThis descending on Moore’s Facebook account and the local Fox affiliate picking up the story.
But many took issue with the story’s generally positive framing. Critics took the view that Logan’s story as more of an indictment of the US healthcare system, rather than a feel-good piece.
The blowback indicates an increasing amount of public skepticism toward how certain issues are packaged as sunny human interest stories.
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Áine Cain)