THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1957
THE PILOT—Sonthern Pines, North Carolina
Page EILEVEj
'EN
For Old Folks, Things Are Getting Better
(Continued from page 1)
higher standards than can prob
ably be achieved under present
circumstances for, as you talk
during that morning’s visit, you
realize she is troubled that she
“can’t do more.’’
“There’s so much that can be
done,’’ she says, “but when you
can take so few patients, you
just can hardly make ends meet,
let alone do all you’d like.”
Sitting on the upholstered sofa
in Mrs. Howard’s attractively
furnished front living-room,
with a bowl of flowers on the
coffee table and family photo
graphs on the mantle, you feel
things cannot be too bad for the
folks there; in fact, that some of
them probably “never had it so
good,” but as you listen and
look you realize it is the. old
story of too many for too little
space and too little help.
Most of Mrs. Howard’s pa
tients are ill, in one way or an
other, with Drs. Vanore or Brady
dropping iii to keep tabs on
things, but this is to be expected.
The county department tries to
reserve this home for those who
need nursing care. 'The home
boasts two—(only two)—^hospital
beds and these are at present oc
cupied by two men who, mental
cases both, must be tied in at different. I like this work. It’s a
night, for they cannot be left challenge, in a way. You have to
long unwatched. do anything you can think of to
"And who does this night keep their spirits up: you have
work?." you ask. to get them to eat, get them' to
"Oh., I do. . . . and my husband dress and get out in the air, when
helps," sa'ys the operator. "He they are able; tease them to take
cooks too." She admits that the ^ little stroll, maybe, out on the
nights are sometimes pretty | grass. They’re like children,-'’ she
rough and it's a long pull that gayg.
next day when you've b^n up | you go into the rear room with
and down half the night. "But Ijher where two old men sit hud-
have^ two helpers during the their dressing-gowns, one,
day." she says. legless, in a wheeled chair. As
But e'ven ■with illness, senility, you edge past, one old fellow
broken bones adding their com- coughs loudly.
two, one is legless, the other ill
and Dr. CaddeU has been to see
him several times. (Dr. Caddell’s
name has come into the conver
sations time and again during
these sinwey trips. He seems to
be carrying much of the welfare
case load in southern Moore
County). But Queenie insists
.that her health record is good:
“not a bad cold, even, in a year-”
she says. Queenie is a register
ed practical nurse, she tells you.
Her needs? Badly needed are
rubber sheets. Also clothes, day
or sleeping, for a man size 40,
who has NONE, she says firmly.
She must need bedclothes, too, it
would seem', as there were none
on at least one of the beds, with
the occupant, a delicately thin
woman, lying on the plastic mat
tress cover.
How About Finances?
And now for a look at the
finances of this boarding home
program.
It is supported largely by the
Mrs. Gibson’s Boarding Home in West End, one of several in
the county that takes care of welfare patients, presently has
eight elderly people living! there. It is regulated in accordance
with strict state rules.
plications it> the general hope
lessness, Mrs. Howard doesn't let
it get her down—or her charges
either, if she can help it.
She hears you sigh and smiles:
“You get used to it,” she says.
“Put your hand up when you
cough, Mr. T.” the operator
tells him.
Mr. T. looks at her question-
ingly from under his craggy
brows. As you pass into the
“and when there’s something next room you hear another
you can do for them, it makes it; cough. It has a defiant croak.
LROSE
RARE
4/5 QT.
BLENPEO WHISKEY. 86.8 PROOF, 40k STRMGHT WHISKIES 7 YEARS OLA,
60k GRAIN NEUTRAL SPIRITS. MELROSE DiSTILLERS GO., M. Y.
highest grant allowed is $60. If
the cost is more than that, the
county must pay it, except when
relatives can help and except in
the case of patients who come
from state mental institutions.
Because these are so overcrowd
ed, with many violent patients
needing hospitalization on the
waiting list, the state tries to
move out those that can be cared
for elsewhere. In these cases—
and Moore Coimty’s boarding
hoin*s are taking care of a good
many—the state pays the extra
charge.
It will be easily realized that
the $60 grant is a very low
charge, these days, and ' few
boarding homes could operate on
such a budget. Charges vary, de
pending on the accommodation
and what sort of care must be
offered. With $60 as the naini-
mum, individual costs range up
to $85, $95, $100. In the Pine-
hurst Convalescent Home, which
two public assistance grants: Aid j takes, in its fireproof wing, "sev-
To The Permanently and Totally eral county patients, and gives
Disabled, (APTD), and Old Age
Assistance, (OAA). 'These grants
them fun nursing Care, the
charge is, of course, a good deal
come from three sources: federal
(73 per cent), state (14 per cent) The county's share of this cost
and coimty (13 per cent). The is dra-wn from the General As
sistance (or Poor) Fund. For the
■first eight nionths of the past fis
cal year, the county spent $5,-
908.46 for boarding home care
of adults. There are 35 cases now
being taken care of in the coun
ty, and four boarding outside.
Wherever possible, the Welfare
Department tries -to . get some
financial help from relatives, if
there are any; and quite often
families are able to contribute
something: on occasion, even, all
the extra amount needed.
And what’s the ^ver-all pic
ture? Not bad. Not, of course,
bad at all compared to what it
used to be. But, in some cases,
at least, it could be better. There
is always the need for more
space, a need that will be help
ed when another home, soon to
be licensed, will be opvened in
Carthage. This will relieve the
pressure some. But, unless there
are a certain number of patients
in a home, the operator is hard-
pressed to make a go of it. And
unless they can make something
out of this business, it is difficult
to get people to undertsike it.
There could, certainly, come a
time when the people of Moore
County would begin to look at
the old county home, now stand!
ing virtually unused, and won
der if the state’s old suggestion,
to get it fixed up as a really
well - equipped, well - st£tffed
boarding and convalescent home,
privately operated, , could be
worked out. It ■will hold 25 to 30
people; the sick could be sepa
rated from the comparatively
well, so that those who were ill
or .mentally derang^ could be
kept in hospitalish surroundings
and where their troubles did not
so pervasively encompass every
body else in the sickroom atmos
phere—-without doubt the worst
feature of the smaller homes.
But: things are now a lot bet
ter than they used to be for the
old folks in Moore County and
we shall doubtless compromise,
at least for a while, and let well
enough alone. But always with
a certain , amoimt of haunting
doubt: Is this situation really
“well enough”? Or should we try
for something better?
'Transplanting flue-cured to
bacco is one of the trickiest of
cultural practices and requires
close attention and timing.
(Pilot pheto)
Did he put his. hand up? You
guess not.
Mrs. Howard sighs. But there
is a gleam of humor in her eye.
“Just like children,” she says.
And you think: they’re probably
worse to take care of than any
children could be. And not for
the first time, you find your
self wondering: how can these
people do it—and how lucky it is
for these poor forlorn old folks
that there are people who “like
this work.”
Water From Home Tastes Good
The women are in bed, suffer
ing from various ailments. One
old liady, half-paralized, holds up
something for you to notice, with
a look of mingled pride and
mirth on- her shrewd lined face.
“What is it? A baby’s bottle?”
She nods, smiling, and Mrs.
Howard’s resonant voice tells
how the daughter brings her
mother water from the well on
the home place every day. “She
won’t drink any other.” Mrs.
Howard says. “She is so weak
she would spiU water in a glass
all over her. So we fixed the bot
tle.”
The operator is especially
pleased with one phase of her
program: she has organized a
weekly prayer-meeting which
the ministers of Robbins take
turns holding. She believes this
brings much help and comfort to
her patients.
You feel she's right and you
think, again, cd how this help
might be further implemented
by good neighbor groups from
the community: to drop in occa
sionally: to russle up some mote
hospital beds—so badly needed
—^perhaps to work out a -way for
more help at night. If, be^des
the ministers, each church could
take turns at it, you think. . .
As you walk do-wn the cement
path, between flowerbeds, with
Mrs. Howard’s cheery: “Come
again soon!” floating after you,
and stop to look back at the long
low house, you realize how well
suited it is for this boarding home
purpose, if only there were a
little more room. It’s too crowd
ed. In the summer, when some
coul(h sit out on the wide porch,
that encircles the whole house,
with a fine view out over the
ridge, the days wouldn’t be too
bad, but what the nights must
be like is something else. At
that, though, it is important, you
have come to realize, to remem
ber that most of the people in
these homes are in varying
stages of senility, mental confu
sion and weakness: they are
mostly unaware of their sur-
roimdings. With the ease of old
age, they brighten up momen
tarily, or fret, but quickly drift
off again into dreams. And, too,
few have come from homes as
comfortable as these are.
The Preffiest Yard
To run over to the boarding
home operated by Queenie Wad
dell in West Southern . Pines
takes but a minute. Situated on
New York Avenue, the first
thing that strikes you about it
is the yard: it must be one of the
prettiest in town. You thread
your way in between a mass of
shrubs and flowers.
This boarding home is licensed
for six; at the moment it holds
three men and one woman from
Moore Coimty and one woman
from' Harnett County. . . and
you wonder how it could pos
sibly hold any more.
The three men are together in
the back room: one, dressed in a
very clean white shirt and his
trousers, is sitting in a chair, the
other two are in bed. Of these
(5^
NOW HIGHER IN OCTANE THAN EVER BEFORE...'
PURE-PREMIDM,
THE RECORD-PE RFORMING
GASOLINE, GETS ANOTHER
BIG OCTANE
BOOST
Iti a Super Premium Ntm!
Available right now, in your Pure Oil dealer's ^
pumps, is a super PUKE-PREMIUM gasoline.
It has been boosted in octane and stepped up in
quality. Now it is ready to unleash greater anti
knock power and improved performance in your car.
Bear in mind that PURE-PREMIUM (even before
this octane boost) held more certified performance
records than any other gasoline according to the
National Association for Stock Cars. It proved its
record performance again and again—in over 240
different events for acceleration, power, mileage, and
all-aroimd performance. These records were set in
38 makes of cars... in all kinds of weather... over
all kinds of roads... with 123 different drivers.
With even more antiknock power and higher
quality, this clean-burning gasoline has the ideal
• balanced blend to keep your car’s engine running at
top efficiency. And it’s blended and customized for
our climate, locality and season.
Try stepped-up PURE-PREMIUM in your car.
-:^ve-K
Lv-'-'Si-''
A great new reason to
Be sure with PURE
It’s the gasoline proved by per
formance again and again and
again!
Sandhill Oil Company
SOUTHERN PINES. N. C.
a25iii2