by Bob Buddemeier

Not long ago, I had some replacement body parts installed. As often happens, this was followed by a modest procession of helpers to supervise the breaking-in period.  One of these, the instigator of this story, was a nurse and self-proclaimed safety advocate.

“When was the last time you fell?” she asked, which many people in the health professions seem to feel is the most appropriate gambit for starting a conversation with an older person.  Well, if we discount that very minor episode involving the cat’s leash, it has been quite a long time.  When so informed, she persisted “What would you do if you fell and [more ominously] couldn’t get up?”

“I’d crawl or roll to the bathroom and reach up for the string on the alarm switch,” I said.  As you probably can guess by now, she had a story of a client whose hip was so badly shattered that she couldn’t even crawl.  She followed up with, “You should have a fully charged cell phone with you at all times.”

That gave me an opening to regain a little ground in the game of Disability Chess.  “You mean when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom half-asleep in the dark I need to have a cell phone in the pocket of my jammies, and be able to get it out and turn it on and dial something?  I can barely do that in the daytime when I haven’t fallen.”

She fell back tactically, but continued to hammer away on the strategic point of having emergency notification capability readily at hand.  Which I admit is not a bad idea, even if it did start off as somebody else’s.  So I made conciliatory noises, and when she left, swung into action.

If you go onto MyRVM a-a-a-all the way over to the far right of the menus bar (Emergency Preparedness), open that page, and then scroll about half-way down the right side, you come to Emergency Pendants.  I called in a work order for one.  The next day Rick Ramirez showed up with two options, neither of which looked like the pictures on MyRVM.

One option was a necklace with TWO pendants – an old-fashioned push-the-button one and some sort of new-fangled accelerometer that detects when you are falling.  I reflected on how much fun it would be to wear that to bed and tangle it up with my CPAP fittings, and quickly decided on the bracelet.  Two days later Rick was back with the bracelet – a demo, a test, and bingo, I’m one button press away from safety, for fifty-ish dollars.  If my left arm is not broken too badly to push on the bracelet.  I guess there’s always some loophole.

Where does it work?  On campus, but not in the gardens or on the golf course.  If you’re at home it knows exactly where you are, but if you’re out among the cottages and hit the mayday button, you get triangulated by sensors that are about on every third building, and should be able to place you within a quarter-block or so.

PS-1:  The Revenge of the Pendant – Rick told me to just throw my original necklace pendant in the trash when I found it.  I did, on Monday, and early Tuesday morning got a call from Jens Larsen about an emergency signal from my cottage.  No explanation, until I realized that this was about the time when the garbage truck was compacting the trash in my area.  A technological death rattle.

PS-2:  Don’t believe everything you read – MyRVM says the bracelet is waterproof; Rick says water resistant, not waterproof (= shower but not pool).  Worth paying attention to, since I suspect that the only way to tell if it has drowned is to press the button without a result.

By Joni Johnson

We have been hearing a lot about contact tracing at the Manor as it relates to Covid. And it has become increasingly important during the most recent outbreak. Rumor has it that this started at a local community event showing a film on the environment. The event occurred on Sunday April 3, 2022. The first person showed symptoms on April 6, but it wasn’t until Friday, April 8, that the Manor was fully informed, and it was at that point that we were told to start wearing masks and just a few hours later, to cut down on group activities.

Unfortunately, Stan’s Friday report did not mention this because it was filmed the day before. I heard from friends early on Friday that some people were reporting symptoms. By mid-morning, I was up at the Manor and saw a friend leaving with a mask on just as I was arriving. UH OH. Yep. Masks were back in.

Since then, there has been a lot of discussion about residents’ safety and our lack of knowledge of who was infected and how we should go about our daily lives. Understanding RVM’s inability to report names, people were nevertheless frustrated that we were being given so little information. We wanted to know where it happened. How it happened. Why it happened. We wanted as much information as possible to protect ourselves!

Luckily, I did hear, again through the grapevine, that RVM had been doing an extraordinary job in contract tracing, and so people who needed to know that they might be infected were being told. However, the contact-tracing program was a mystery for most of us. Luckily, I was able to speak with Melissa Preston about how contact tracing works and how it worked specifically with the latest outbreak here at the Manor. She described the tracing somewhat like a game of Clue. They start with an event and then go from one event to the next to figure out who might have been exposed. They start searching from 48 hours before the first signs of symptoms.

Believe it or not, as of my writing this article, there have been 19 positive cases from that one event. That is the largest outbreak we have had here at the Manor since the Pandemic started in early 2020. The contact tracing has been done primarily by Melissa and Aaron Williams, our Campus Infection Prevention Nurse. Those cases led to 54 calls to let people know that they may have been infected. Of course, before any of our infected residents got sick, most of them had participated in other events. Those events were primarily dinner with friends, Joyful Voices rehearsal, and a private group that had met before symptoms appeared.

One important fact is that most of the people at the initial event were not masked.  Most were vaccinated and boosted and there was an enormous relief that the covid restrictions had been relaxed.  So people had let down their guard.  This is even more proof that wearing a mask in larger groups is extremely beneficial.  If you go to the theatre, wear a mask.  We are not out of the woods yet!

Aaron Williams- Our Heroic Community Infection Preventionist

If you were lucky, you read about him in the December issue of Hill Topics (See link below- p 11).   If you were unlucky, you got a call from him because you had been exposed to Covid.  Is he new?  No!  Aaron Williams has been a nurse in a variety of positions here at the Manor for 19 years.  He worked first at the Clinic, then the Health Center in a variety of positions, and finally as the Community Infection Preventionist. Along with Melissa Preston, he does all the contact tracing here for both residents and staff.  He keeps in touch with the State and the County and keeps everyone apprised of the latest developments.  He provides testing for those who show symptoms.  He keeps us safe!

https://files.mwapp.net/FILES/126032218.pdf

As soon as someone became symptomatic and reported this to RVM, they were contacted by either Melissa or Aaron and asked a variety of questions including where they thought they might have been infected and with whom they had been since that activity. They were asked for permission to use their names in contacting people. Then calls were made to anyone who might have been with the symptomatic person or their spouse. RVM offers antigen testing for anyone who feels they might be infected. If they are showing symptoms, and they live in the cottages, they can drive to the Manor and be tested right in the car, rather than coming in. And, if necessary, someone will go to the house to do the testing.

The CDC guidelines state that if you were in a one of the infected groups, and you were vaccinated and boosted, then wearing a mask should be sufficient. If you have not been vaccinated and boosted, you should quarantine yourself for 5 days. If you show symptoms, regardless of your vaccination status, then you should immediately quarantine, test again on the 5th day, and if you test negative, then stay masked until day 10. We were lucky that although this variant was very contagious, there were no serious cases that required hospitalization.

Obviously, the most important thing for any resident to do is to contact RVM immediately after you are symptomatic. The Flu Hotline is #7665. Either Melissa or Aaron will call you back to get more information and help you decide on your next step.

I was very impressed with RVM’s contact tracing. Everyone I know who was in a group that had been potentially infected was, in fact, called. Which meant that if no one called you, you were relatively safe. RVM’s strength lies in the their knowledge of who is infected. They can’t help us if they don’t know. So as a community, the most important thing is to let RVM know your situation if you feel you might be sick. That is how we can protect each other. The more information Aaron and Melissa have, the safer we will be.

by Bob Buddemeier

Of what, by whom, why —???  If you have been watching Channel 900, you have probably seen the creative work of RVM’s *ALL**STAR* theatrical team of Eric Poppick and Jane Harris, produced by impresario Sarah Karnatz.  And if you haven’t, here is your Big Chance: CLICK HERE.  And if you recalcitrantly refuse to avail yourself of this highly informative and entertaining opportunity – here’s the spoiler.

Jane and Eric celebrate the salvation of RVM

It’s about Emergency Preparedness, which is something you need to do to save your posterior and other valued anatomical parts from the next wildfire, storm, pandemic, or (gasp, shudder) subduction zone earthquake.  It’s also about the Residents Preparedness Group, an intrepid band of dedicated volunteers who have accepted the very considerable challenge of convincing—and helping – you to GET PREPARED.

And the reason is that, over time, people become forgetful, complacent, and disorganized.  Don’t deny it.  So the RPG, in collusion with RVM, has instituted a semiannual cycle of reminder events, Spring and Fall.  The recently Spring event (to view the tasteful and stimulating miniposters, CLICK HERE), included an outreach effort in which our RPG Neighborhood and Floor Coordinators sought out every locatable resident.  Objective:  to distribute a handout explaining the RVM emergency communication channels, and the roles of RPG.  If you have already misplaced your locally personalized copy you can still obtain the generic version (CLICK HERE).

Another limited but more intensive activity involved selected Cottage Area and Tower Floor Coordinators fanning out in a simulated power outage exercise to practice assessment and radio communication skills.

In addition to these efforts that put volunteers in yellow-green vests onto the streets and hallways, two semi-coincidental developments have greatly expanded the Preparedness information available to residents. Under the direction of Dan Curtis (RPG Communication Lead), the RPG entry on the Resident Groups and Activities page of MyRVM has had a major expansion.  You can use it to identify your RPG Coordinator, or find contact information for any of the RPG volunteers.  There is also basic information about RPG, and about the training programs.  Dan says that the site is usable now, but that development and refinement are still in progress.

Finally, Preparedness continues to get easier.  The first installment of the in-development RPG Manual has been posted (CLICK HERE), with instruction sheets for Food, Water, Medical and Sanitation, as well as supporting and background information.  Check it out – more is coming soon.

We hope you’re impressed, and not just by the classy vests.  RPG always needs volunteers, both coordinators and organizational support volunteers. Contact your Area or Building Coordinator, or Bob Berger, RPG Chair.

By Joni Johnson with help from Pat Robins and Cameron Patterson

     Laurie Patterson

We are currently under threat of a nuclear war.  Medford is planning to remove lead from contaminated buildings. Other than interest and fear, how do these two things weave themselves into the history of the Rogue Valley Manor? Through the charm of one of our past residents, Laurie Patterson and her fascinating husband Clair. I am sure that many of our residents from Sea Ranch and from Cal Tech either knew of them or knew them directly.

In college, Clair (usually called Pat), was very tall and thin, with a great sense of humor and known to be extremely honest.  He met his wife, Lorna “Laurie” McCleary, at Grinnell, and together they raised four children, two boys and two girls.  Laurie’s degree was in chemistry, and according to several sources, she did better than he did at academics.  He said he wasn’t as good at finishing the homework.  They attended the University of Iowa and the University of Chicago, and then both worked on the Manhattan Project in Chicago and then again in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, helping to develop the atomic bomb.

From the *book, The Toxic Truth, the story about Clair Patterson and his efforts to remove unnecessary lead from our every day life, Laurie Patterson comments that “Oak Ridge was silent when they dropped the bomb.  When we left, they gave us lapel buttons that said, Oak Ridge.  We threw them away”.  Later in life, Clair Patterson called the atomic bomb, “a hideous crime that we were committing”.

After the University of Chicago, Clair and Laurie moved to California and he spent his working life at Cal Tech, where much of his effort had to do with the contamination of lead in our systems.  He noted that the levels of lead in our atmosphere had begun to increase steadily after Tetra-ethyl lead was used in fuel to reduce engine knock.  In 1965, he published an article, Contaminated and Natural Lead environments of Man, which tried to draw public attention to the problem of increased levels of lead in the environment.  Until the work of Patterson and his colleague, Herbert Needleman, a pediatrician dealing with inner-city children, people in charge chose to call the amount of lead in the environment “normal”.  What they really meant by “normal” was that the amount of lead found in the environment was acceptable.  Unfortunately, that view was typical, but this amount was not acceptable.  It was in fact, toxic.  And it took Patterson and Needleman to bravely stand up to the men in power with their facts and figures.  After their explanations to Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency and various other places, lead was finally removed from gasoline, food cans and paint.

Of course, Patterson’s opposition to the enormous tetra-ethyl lead industry made him extremely unpopular, and there were many times that his family was in fear of being hurt or even assassinated.  His son Cameron remembered that this conversation took place often at the dinner table during those times.  Clair was, as his son says, “naturally courageous and pigheaded”. These are two necessary traits to have in order to take on this kind of powerful enemy. But he did it with grace and guts and achieved his goals.  However, it wasn’t until he won the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement that he felt that he had really succeeded.  The Tyler Prize is the industry’s version of the Nobel Prize, and Tyler Laureates receive a $200,000 cash prize and a medallion.

There was an article in the Mail Tribune on Friday, March 18, that Medford is working with Habitat for Humanity to remove lead from contaminated buildings.  The wheels of progress sometimes turn slowly, but they do move. There is hope.

While Patterson worked on his project with lead at Cal Tech, Laurie raised their four children.  She was able to help him in the clean lab at times, but also worked for her secondary teaching credential, and when her oldest son, Cameron, left for college, she was able to finish the credential and start teaching chemistry at La Canada High School in La Canada, California.  She became head of the science department, and according to her son Cameron, even had a chance to teach several of her own children.

                     Patterson Family

After Patterson’s retirement from Cal Tech, he stayed on as an emeritus.  He and Laurie built a home at Sea Ranch, where she lived permanently after her retirement and he would come up periodically to be with her.  Unfortunately, Patterson became more frail with time.  During one of his projects retrieving gas samples at a volcano, there was an accident where his lungs were badly damaged.  This led to asthma and finally to a severe asthma attack and death at the age of 73 at Sea Ranch in 1995.

 Laurie continued living at Sea Ranch until 2002 when she, along with many others from the area, were wined and dined by RVM and came to live at the Manor. Laurie was further supported in her move to southern Oregon by the fact that her oldest son, Cameron, had moved to the Ashland area three years earlier.

According to those who remember her here at the Manor, she was charming, friendly, brilliant, a wonderful pianist, and interested in needlework, among other endeavors.  She was a member of a book club and on the board of the symphony.  And, of course, the Sea Ranchers would periodically get together for a meal.

Cameron remembers her as the social one and his father as the ultimate nerd.  As we say, the perfect couple.  How lucky we were to have her here at the Manor and to have him here at all.

*(The book, Toxic Truth by Lydia Denworth, will soon be available in our library)

 To go to the issue contents page (“What’s New”)  CLICK HERE