WITH HER `FAMILY' SHE'S RIGHT WHERE SHE WANTS TO BE.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
BURBANK - There are two residential wings at Le Bleu Chateau assisted living as·sist·ed living n. A living arrangement in which people with special needs, especially older people with disabilities, reside in a facility that provides help with everyday tasks such as bathing, dressing, and taking medication. facility in Burbank - the blue side and the gold side. The blue side is for residents who are more independent, and don't need the degree of assistance that residents fighting Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia on the gold side need. Frances Jordan lives on the gold side. She doesn't have to. Physically and mentally, this 78-year-old widow is fine now. She's independent and financially well off enough to live almost anywhere she wants, but it is here she chooses to lay her head every night because it is here where she thinks she belongs. Not in a nice home or upscale condo. Not in the most luxurious, expensive retirement home in the city. Not even across the hallway on the blue side of this building. No, right here on the gold side. Close to her friends. Close to her family. Frances has been where most of these residents are now - lost - and she knows better than anyone the feelings going inside those bodies with the blank stares and confused looks on their faces. ``They're feeling humiliated hu·mil·i·ate tr.v. hu·mil·i·at·ed, hu·mil·i·at·ing, hu·mil·i·ates To lower the pride, dignity, or self-respect of. See Synonyms at degrade. and embarrassed because they don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what to say or what to do in their condition,'' Frances says. ``They're lost, like I was. ``Seeing this old face every day makes them feel like they're with family again, with someone who understands. That's why I stay. Because I think I was put here for a purpose.'' But to arrive at this purpose, Frances had to go through hell - her own personal nightmare of four weeks in a coma after contracting encephalitis encephalitis (ĕnsĕf'əlī`təs), general term used to describe a diffuse inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, usually of viral origin, often transmitted by mosquitoes, in contrast to a bacterial infection of the meninges when she was bitten by a mosquito on a vacation trip to the Caribbean back in 1985. When she finally awoke in the hospital, she didn't remember anything or anyone, not even her brother and mother, who have since died. In August 1985, Frances Jordan, twitching twitching, n an irregular spasm of a minor extent. twitching, Trousseau's, n.pr a twitching of the face that the patient can exhibit at will and occurs obsessively to relieve tension. from uncontrolled tremors, and suffering from amnesia amnesia (ămnē`zhə), [Gr.,=forgetfulness], condition characterized by loss of memory for long or short intervals of time. It may be caused by injury, shock, senility, severe illness, or mental disease. - was moved in a wheelchair through the doors of Le Bleu Chateau and given a room on the gold side. ``Slowly, the doctors started cutting off all my medications, and my reflexes and memory started coming back,'' she said. ``I started getting my life back again, little by little.'' And when it was finally all the way back, and Frances was well enough to go anywhere she wanted, she shocked everyone by saying she wanted to stay right here in her room on the gold side. With her family now. ``She's independent, drives her own car and can move out any time she wants, but she doesn't want to leave because these people have become her family,'' says Mary Mulally, health care educator and activities coordinator at the Burbank facility. ``She's been where they are now, knows what they're going through inside, so Frances does anything she can to make them feel better, whether it's taking them for walks and just talking softly to them or getting them a drink of water or a Kleenex to wipe a runny nose runny nose Vox populi → medtalk Rhinorrhea .'' These acts of kindness and devotion are why Frances, along with six other local people from Burbank, North Hollywood, Toluca Lake and Universal City are being honored today with the Angel of the Year Award by a charitable organization This article is about charitable organizations. For other uses of the word charity, see Charity. A charitable organization (also known as a charity) is an organization with charitable purposes only. of the same name created in 1995 to honor the selfless self·less adj. Having, exhibiting, or motivated by no concern for oneself; unselfish: "Volunteers need both selfish and selfless motives to sustain their interest" Natalie de Combray. acts of citizens in the community. ``It's important to call attention to the positive role models in our society, and hope others will be so inspired by their acts of generosity that they will want to emulate them,'' said Michael Stern Michael Stern may be:
Madeline Rosenberg, admissions coordinator at Le Bleu Chateau, said Frances told her a little secret the day she found out she was going to receive the Angel Award. ``She said she's accepting it in honor of all those who have gone on, in their memory,'' Rosenberg said. ``She's lost some good friends living here.'' On the gold side, where Frances Jordan was put for a purpose. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Frances Jordan gets coffee and tea for residents - on the gold side - at Le Bleu Chateau care facility in Burbank. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
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