Picturing Poverty
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 - 10:00 P.M.
I was talking with a couple of our mechanics today while on my lunch break. They stopped by my office where I work to talk a little. We all work in the public education sector in rural West Virginia. They were checking to see if a new mechanic had been hired during the previous night's board meeting. Our topic of discussion turned to jobs in West Virginia and the state of our economy. We said that we were thankful for the jobs that we have. We felt lucky to have jobs which provided insurance and retirement benefits.
I said, "Even though we have jobs, poverty is all around us here in these rich coalfields, especially noticeable in the children who are asking for a warm blanket for Christmas instead of a toy." The mechanics agreed. Then, one of them told me the following story:
He said, "An elderly gentleman tried to check himself into the Richwood Nursing Home last week. He showed up at their door and said, "I want to be admitted."
The staff told him that was not how things were done at the nursing home. They said, "You must meet certain criteria - not just show up and expect to be admitted."
He said, "Well, you don't understand. I have no place to go. I have been evicted from my home. I am 4 months behind on rent. I am behind on all my utilities. If I don't get admitted into your facility, I will be sleeping in a cardboard box down on the street out in the cold. If you don't take me in, I have no place to go."
The staff sent him or took him, I don't know which, over to the Richwood Area Medical Center Emergency room to have him checked out to see if they could find something wrong with him, so they could give him a home.
Related Tags: nursing, author, homeless, west virginia, poverty, b. l. dotson-lewis, richwood, betty dotson lewis
B. L. Dotson-Lewis, (Author of Sago Mine Disaster (Featured Story) Appalachian Coalfield Stories
PO Box 313
Summersville, WV 26651
website: http://www.appalachiacoal.com
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