WHAT'S • HAPPENING
Free Copy OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE HIGH POINT MODEL CITY COMMISSION October 13,1972
To Be Established at Hospital
Ad Hoc Group Key In Outpatient Clinic
After years of discussion and hard
work, Model Cities’ Health and Social
Services task force has finally been
assured of an outpatient clinic at High
Point Memorial Hospital.
The board of trustees at the local
hospital authorized the establishment
of the clinic, which is envisioned to be
primarily for indigent families, those
who have no family doctor, and those
who need non-emergency care at night
and on weekends.
A similar clinic has been in operation
in Greensboro and funded by the
Guilford County Health Department
for a number of years. Efforts to estab
lish a clinic of this type here had been
blocked earlier by the local medical
society.
In recent years, interest had gradu
ally increased in the plan to set up
an out-patient facility at the hospital,
and was spurred by the formation of
an ad hoc committee by Model Cities
in early summer.
Virgil Early, a member of the Health
and Social Services task force, was
chosen chairman of this 12-member
group, which consisted of members of
the hospital trustees and staff. United
Community Services, a City Council
man, a Guilford County Commissioner,
local doctors and Dr. Sarah T. Mor
row.
Dr. Morrow, director of the health
department, estimated the out-patient
clinic would cost about $36,000 a year.
No Model Cities funds are committed
for the operation of the clinic, al
though the local agency has funded a
Demonstration Health Clinic on Eliza
beth Street in the Model Neighbor
hood for two years.
The health clinic serves patients
from the target area on an out-patient
basis at no charge.
The proposal to establish the out
patient clinic at the hospital will now
await final approval by the county
commissioners. No opposition is ex
pected.
Although financially supported and
The administrators at Sandy Ridge
Advancement Center try to make in
mates “a deal they cant refuse.”
One of several “advancement cen
ters” operated by the N. C. Depart
ment of Corrections, Sandy Ridge in
rural Guilford County is primarily for
adult male prisoners on the last lap
of their sentences. It is a minimum
security unit geared to readjusting in
mates to society before they are re
leased.
The majority of the approximately
100 inmates at Sandy Ridge, which has
a high turnover rate, are either waiting
for parole, conditional release or final
release.
It is during this final phase of their
operated by the health department,
the clinic will make use of local
physicians. It is designed to relieve
the already overloaded emergency
room of its burden, and will offer
services much the same as has the
Elizabeth Street center.
Many of those cases now treated at
the emergency room are not consider
ed real emergencies.
Cooperation among Model Cities
and the principals in the establishment
of the outpatient facility is not new.
confinement that prisoners at Sandy
Ridge have special opportunities to
“turn their lives around,” according to
unit superintendent L. H. Cashion.
There are several programs available
for the inmates who are selected to
come to Sandy Ridge. Most prisoners
brought to the advancement center —
which differs from a regular prison be
cause of the amount of responsibility'
placed on the inmates themselves —
are accepted only because Cashion
and his staff feel that Sandy Ridge can
fulfill a need these individuals have.
One of the most pronounced needs
Cashion and his staff have identified
is education.
For this reason, the Sandy Ridge ad
ministration has developed a concept
and an educational program unique to
prisons in the state.
Although other prisons offer at least
adult basic education to their inmates,
none in North Carolina have the broad
program which Sandy Ridge now has,
to Cashion’s knowledge.
STEP BY STEP
Now it is possible for a man there
to go step by step from first grade
through a college degree, using the re
sources of the Sandy Ridge staff, Coun
ty and City extension courses, Greens
boro Literacy Council, Guilford Tech
nical Institute, and even the Uni
versity of North Carolina at Greens
boro.
The final link in Sandy Ridges se
quential education program was fur
nished recently by a $13,200 grant by
High Point Model Cities to the center
for the creation of a learning labora
tory, where inmates may go to study
independently in high school and col
lege subjects they are weakest in.
An additional $500 gift by the High
Point Kiwanis Club supplemented the
Model Cities money to make possible
the purchase of a mini-bus to transport
men to and from GTI for classes.
Up until this time, staff members had
had to use “anything that walks or
runs” to carry men to class, according
to programs assistant Susan Adams,
who with John R. Stewart will co
ordinate the education system at Sandy
Last year Model Cities donated $179,-
000 to the hospital for its establish
ment of a cardiovascular catheteriza
tion lab (for diagnosing heart ailments),
and approved an additional $101,000
grant for its coronary care unit.
The latter sum has not yet received
final approval from the region 1 office
of the Department of Housing and
Urban Development.
The outpatient clinic, conceived as
far back as 1968, will probably be in
operation within six months.
Ridge. “We used everything but a
taxi — personal cars, anything. We did
everything but stuff them into wag
ons,” added Stewart.
With the mini-bus, Sandy Ridge will
be able to draw even more heavily
on the facilities in Greensboro and at
the Jamestown school to fulfill the edu
cational needs of the men.
SELF-TEACHING
Materials available at the newly-
established learning lab, all geared for
self-teaching, are in the high school
subjects of math, English, reading
comprehension, and basic science. Miss
Adams says, however, that if a man
shows he is sincere in his desire to
learn, materials and books can be
ordered for him in any subject, in
cluding foreign language.
The learning lab will be monitored
by a full-time teacher, who will tutor
the inmates in whatever subject they
are interested in. Students advance at
their own pace on their individual
study program. The lab will supple
ment the prison unit’s already well-
stocked library, and will also include
audio-visual equipment.
(Continued on Page 4)
Romper Room Vacated;
Toys Donated To CP
By Local TV Station
WGHP-TV, Channel 8, has donated
about eight boxes of toys and child
care equipment to Model Cities Citi
zen Participation unit, 1305 Franklin
Street.
The toys, games, books and chil
dren’s furniture was presented to
Citizen Participation director Milton
Stallings by Channel 8’s community
affairs director Don Forney, former
executive director of Model Cities.
The equipment will be used in the
Citizen Participation office’s Kiddie
Komer, where children may stay
while their parents are in neighbor
hood meetings, for example.
It was previously used on Channel
8’s local version of “Romper Room”
show, which was recently discon
tinued.
Drags Are A Nightmare
A series on the dangers of drug abuse begins this week on page 4.
Sandy Ridge Lab Is Final Link
In Prison’s Education Program