A stay in the hospital used to be a pretty simple thing. Patients went in when they were sick and left when they were better. Today, a hospital stay is much more complicated. And patients leave the hospital with ever more complicated conditions.
“Hospital 101,” a free informational workshop sponsored by Pierce County Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC), provides information about preparations that patients need to make before arriving at the hospital. Most importantly, the workshop examines important considerations that need to be addressed before and during the discharge process, officials said.
The free workshop will be held four times in March:
• March 11, 12:10-12:50 p.m., Pierce County Annex main meeting room, 2401 S. 35th St., Tacoma
• March 11, 7-8 p.m., Gig Harbor Library, 4424 Point Fosdick Dr. NW., Gig Harbor.
• March 12, 7-8 p.m, Puyallup Library, 324 S. Meridian, Puyallup.
• March 13, 12:10-12:50 p.m., County-City Building, seventh floor Rainier Conference Room; 930 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma.
Among the issues discussed will be who goes to the hospital and why, what doctor’s don’t know, the distinction between “admitted†and “observation,†and creating a discharge plan that patients can realistically follow.
ADRC, an information, referral and assistance system for disabilty services and long-term care in Pierce County, can be reached at 253-798-4600 and 800-562-0332.
On Oct. 18, 1890, Republican George B. Kandle was elected Tacoma’s mayor. In those days, the city operated under a commissioner system, and many jobs were by political appointment. Kandle appointed William F. Zwickey chief of police and Zwickey fired 15 non-Republican policemen.
When Zwickey took office, he said he would investigate every complaint against every officer. He wanted to “purify the Force and raise the standards of his employees with a new set of rules and regulations†and, in particular, “he wouldn’t tolerate officers using clubs, except in riots or in self-defense.†Two months later, the Tacoma Daily News started looking at Zwickey and his promises. On Dec. 21, “a policeman beat Swedish laborer Ole Hansen for no apparent reason,†and arrested a laborer for being a vagrant. Another officer arrested a man named Tom Barclay, demanding Tom give him money. On Dec. 23, an officer named Flanagan arrested store clerk named Frank Dowd. The city attorney told the judge there were no grounds, and Dowd was released.
One of the most egregious incidents’ the paper covered involved a cop named Housh and a man named Joseph Niggemeyer. Niggemeyer and two men, Caspar Eggerth and Charles Wopers, caught the street car to attend a meeting at Van Dusen’s Hall on J Street. After the men paid their fares, street car operator Ed Doran shortened the ride well before the correct stop. Niggemeyer and Doran had a verbal altercation. After the meeting, the three men went to the corner of Center and J streets to catch the street car back.
In the meantime, Doran notified the police about the trouble and Housh showed up, saying he was there to arrest Niggemeyer for drunkenness, and started beating him. Eggerth and Wopers tried to interfere but were driven off. After Niggemeyer lost consciousness, Housh dragged him into a saloon and had a drink. Eggerth and Wopers followed, protesting the beating, and Housh arrested them, too. All three ended up in court. Judge Emmett Parker released Eggerth and Wopers but fined Niggemeyer $5 and court costs. He said Niggemeyer was technically guilty of disturbing the peace, and the manner of the arrest did not make him less so. He did say Housh was guilty of undue violence. While Niggemeyer appealed the case, Wopers filed a complaint against Housh on the charge of assault; it was never served.
While this was going on, another Swede was arrested “on suspicion of something†and denied a hearing, and a police officer known as Three Dollar Kelly tried to extort $3 from several Japanese prostitutes.
On Dec. 29, Kelly went to Willie Pelka’s place to gamble, and cheated by using marked cards. Willie was arrested, ostensibly on charges of robbery and keeping a house of prostitution, but more likely because she reported his coming into her establishment to gamble while on duty (not to mention cheating). A notary public named Albert Heilig took her statement, but Kelly swore she didn’t understand what she was swearing to because she was drunk when she gave the testimony. Heilig said she didn’t appear drunk to him and that she understood the gravity of the charges she was making.
Kelly denied ever having gambled in Willie’s place, but two other gentlemen who were present at the time confirmed he was there. The Daily News got an affidavit from one who said he heard the money jingle on the table, heard Willie leaving the table saying she had to get some more cash, heard her accuse Kelly of cheating, and heard Kelly say she was “dead easy game.†Chief Zwickey stepped in, saying he would release her if she recanted, but fine her $500 if she refused. She agreed to recant and was released. Court officials were told that she either withdrew the charges or was missing. The judge said he knew nothing about any negotiations, and he had no choice but to dismissal charges against both Willie and Kelly.
A few weeks later, a man pretending to be a sailor entered Willie’s joint. She recognized him as being a detective, and ordered him to leave. He demanded a whiskey, which she gave him, before again asking him to leave. He refused, and she contacted the police. The Squad of Seven, whose express purpose was to raid places such as Willie’s, showed up. The detective swore she had taken $5 for the drink and refused to give him change. Willie knew this was a favorite trick pulled or instigated by Three Dollar Kelley. The police again arrested Willie and charged her with keeping a house of ill repute. She was denied bail, and a snitch was assigned to share her cell. Willie kept mum, was eventually released, and disappeared.
On Jan. 12, 1891, a police officer named H.J. Miller was accused of being a Daily News informant and was fired. Miller, who had a good reputation around town, demanded an investigation. “I don’t want to be reinstated,†he said, “I just want to have my reputation be set right before the public.†This quote was the only time he spoke to the paper.
As the Daily News continued reporting outrages committed by officers under Zwickey’s watch, Zwickey, Capt. Kelly and others formed a joint stock arrangement in order to make “cluster charges†of libel against the Daily News. They asked for $80,000.
In February, Zwickey was seen in a saloon drinking, after which he rode in a carriage down Pacific Avenue “hooting and yelling.†He resigned and Three Dollar Kelly was fired. L. D. Ellis became the new police chief and served for a year and a half. Tacoma adopted the council-manager system and did away with the commissioner system.
Pierce Transit riders will have fewer options for transportation when the agency makes service cuts this September.Pierce Transit’s plan to eliminate weekend bus runs and some weekday service by this fall as part of a 34 percent reduction in service is worrying bus-depending riders, including seniors.
“It will be a very big deal,†said Ken Gibson, one of the people who is trying to help offset the coming shakeup in public transportation.
Gibson, executive director of TACID (Tacoma Area Coalition of Individuals with Disabilities), is also a member of Citizens Transit Advisory Board, a community-based group commissioned by the Pierce Transit commissioners to work on ways to minimize negative effects of service cuts. No matter what the group and transit officials come up with, “this definitely is going to have an impact,†he said.
Pierce Transit’s Board of Commissioners approved a plan Jan. 14 for the cuts to take effect Sept. 29 in response to voters’ rejection last November of a tax measure that transit officials said was needed to retain full service. Since its action in January, the board has altered the plan by voting Feb. 11 to provide llimited bus service on Saturdays and Sundays. Under the new plan, total service is to be cut 28 percent instead of the original 34 percent, officials said.
The cutbacks could have begun in February, but the board decided to give transit users more time to make alternative plans for transportation that is scheduled to end.
It’s expected that people who depend the heaviest on Pierce Transit transportation and will be most affected include seniors, students and low-income riders in general.
“We understand these reductions will deeply impact thousands in our communities. This was a difficult decision,” said Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland, the transit board chairwoman.
Pierce Transit has been providing a combined 417,000 service hours per year. That number will be reduced to approximately 275,000 by the cuts.
A series of public meetings to discuss the changes and inform riders about exact service cuts will include a hearing that’s scheduled for May.
Overall, the planned reductions include elimination of all Saturday, Sunday and holiday service. On weekdays, there will be less service after 7 p.m. and during mid-day hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Clients of TACID’s Independent Living for Older Adults and Blind/Low Vision Services program are among transit users who could be most affected by the reduced transit services. The program works with individuals, families and caregivers to assure that as people age, they have opportunities to live independently and have the support and resources they need. It’s part of the non-profit organization’s community services focused on the disabled.
Many TACID clients depend on Pierce Transit’s shuttle service. Earlier cuts in that service resulted in a 12 percent reduction of shuttle visits to TACID’s center in Tacoma. “Those were people who were no longer coming to get the services they needed,†Gibson said, adding the next round of cuts will have similar impacts.
“There’s really almost no substitute†for public transportation to meet the needs of people like TACID clients, both seniors and other age groups, Gibson said. “A person with a Social Security income can’t afford a $10 taxi ride,†and rides from relatives or friends aren’t always an alternative.
He said“the vast majority†of 55-and-over clients with low vision or blindness “rely on shuttles,†which will be eliminated wherever bus routes are being dropped. People with doctor appointments may be left without transportation to and from daytime doctor appointments.
In the general election last November, Proposition 1 – placed on the ballot by Pierce Transit to ask for an increase of three-tenths of 1 percent of the sales tax in Pierce County – was narrowly defeated. Had it passed, the additional tax revenue would have boosted funding for transit services.
Only voters living within the transit benefit area could cast ballots on the tax proposal. Communities that are part of the benefit area include Tacoma, Puyallup, Gig Harbor, Lakewood and Sumner.
The same proposed tax increase was also rejected by voters in 2011. Since then, in an effort to lower its operating costs and continue full service, Pierce Transit has cut some spending, raised fares and reduced its number of management employees. Also, bus drivers and other employees agreed to no pay raises in a three-year contract. But ridership rose to record levels, according to transit officials.
If voters had approved Proposition 1 last year,transit officials said, current levels of service would have been saved, and special service – such as routes to high-traffic events like the Washington State Fair in Puyallup that were eliminated in past cutbacks – would have been restored.
Transit officials and supporters of Proposition 1 have said that reduced service hurts people with limited or no other transportation options. Opponents of the measure said many of those same people would be negatively impacted by paying a higher sales tax, and that Pierce Transit should find other ways to meet its desired expenses.
Last September, as a result of some communities in east Pierce County being removed from the transit service area, Pierce Transit eliminated shuttle paratransit service in Sumner, Graham, the South Hill area of Puyallup, and Spanaway. Similar cuts were made near Gig Harbor.
Liz McDevitt and her husband , Larry, spend a lot of time laughing and enjoying life. Liz is an artist and writer, and Larry restores vintage cars. (Joan Cronk/Senior Scene)One doesn’t have to be around Liz and Larry McDevitt very long to understand that the couple, married 56 years, are a great team.
They treat each other with respect, finish each other’s sentences and spend a lot of time laughing.
Liz retired due to her hearing loss after serving for 10 years as the director of the Salvation Army Senior Center.
She suffered from childhood illnesses that could have resulted in her hearing loss, and it wasn’t until she was 35 years old when she had a hearing test that her hearing loss was diagnosed.
“The testing wasn’t very sophisticated and we had a lot of vanity in those days about wearing a hearing aid, but it was so neat to hear things. A flushing toilet sounded like Niagara Falls,†she said.
Larry, who is also involved in a number of projects, including restoring old cars, was glad she could hear better, too.
“I just thought she was ignoring me,†he joked as he showed off the 1948 Dodge truck he restored himself.
Retiring is a word Liz uses loosely, because she is extremely involved in a number of activities. She is an accomplished artist who paints wildlife, tugboats, portraits and still life, and belongs to Pacific Gallery Artists. She appears in juried shows, publishes Pacific Gallery Artists’ newsletter, and is working on her online book called “Folks Hear the Darndest Things,†which can be viewed at www.folkshearthedarnedestthings.com. Liz posts one quip every week, and as of now there are no archives to past posts. “I’m working on that,†she said.
Following are some questions posed to Liz about her new book and her busy life.
What is your book about?
It is about hearing loss, but it is also regarding people that have good hearing that can end up having selective hearing. It depends on the person’s voice, the tone of your voice. ‘I can hear you, but I don’t understand you.’
Where did you come up with the idea for your book?
I’ve been working on it for about 20 years. I want to direct people to other avenues of support and to see the humor of our disabilities. (For support, Liz attends TACID’s hearing loss group in Tacoma.) One lady said she was disabled in her ears, but not disabled all over. Larry’s hearing is so good he can hear a mouse peeing on a blotter. You just have to find the humor in it. I was losing my incentive, money and time – I am 74 years old – and didn’t want to let my family and friends down who have been so faithful sending quips. But the Lord’s answer came. I got to thinking about my art league’s web site and thought why not?
Why did you decide to do it online versus a printed book?
Our daughter, Leeann, bought a five-years domain site for my birthday. She spent two hours setting it up and this was the answer to my prayer, giving me incentive, but challenging, too.
How long did it take you to write it?
It is an ongoing project. It took me 20 years to get the first word down. People are sending me little funny stories, especially couples.
What is the saddest story?
Sweet nothings that Larry said and I didn’t hear.
What do you hope people get out of reading your book?
Develop a sense of humor! Don’t get mad if someone doesn’t understand, because sometimes you can understand and other times you can draw a blank. Hearing aids are not always the answer. Habits have been developed over the years, just trying to survive, especially not knowing you have hearing loss. Teachers today recognize in children when hearing should be tested. I learned early on to read lips.
What should people know about hearing loss?
Folks need to understand it is a disability and we are not disabled all over. Even folks with good hearing need to be educated. We can’t always understand what is being said, but don’t shut out folks. They will become reclusive, be quiet in gatherings, struggle to hear or misinterpret what is said in conversation. Don’t yell. Be patient. Technology is making so many advances, so there is hope for those with hearing loss to get back into life.
