My name is Vivian Lawson. My friend, Peter Bischell and I have lived in this nursing home for eight or nine years. I would like to live in a house or an apartment. We have to endure a lot of hardships in this place. For one thing they are always short staffed and they have people come in and out all of the time. We have to train different people to take care of us. There are people constantly dying around us. Most of the people are in their eighties and nineties. I have a roommate in her eighties. She is not doing well right now. Peter has been here longer than I have...
I'll tell you a little bit about living here. We're supposed to get at least two showers a week here. How many people do you know who get only two showers a week? We are lucky if we get two showers a week. Sometimes we can go for a week or two without getting any at all. The food here is not the greatest. There's a lot of repetition and its institutionalized food, so you can imagine what it would taste like. It's bland. We can get as much as we want, but who wants it?
Governor Johnson, I'm pleading for your help in getting us out of here. It's hard for our families to come and visit because it's an institution. We live in a small area. It's a 10 x 12 foot room. I must live in this with a roommate. There are two beds, a TV, and a dresser, and barely enough room for a chair for someone to sit in. There is very little closet space. Another thing, there is not much to do during the day. They don't have any activities geared to the younger set. They have bingo and trivia. They do have religious people coming in to help us wit out religious beliefs, religious background, but there doesn't seem to be enough to do during the week; and the weekends are pretty boring 'cause there is nothing on TV and there doesn't seem to be anything to do. I'm thinking if I could get out of here I could lead a more normal life: go places and do things with my children. I mentioned earlier that they come to visit. They really don't like coming to visit, but they do. For one thing, the facility is always, nine times out of ten, when they come it reeks of urine, feces smell and that's not very appetizing if somebody brings in a pizza or a snack or something.
There just doesn't seem to be any hope for us and we need your help. We would like to have a home type situation with attendants. Medicaid pays for most of my stay here. I do get Social Security. They get my whole check except for $30 a month. This is what most everybody that's on Medicaid gets. If we leave the facility for more than 6 days we lose our room whether we're hospitalized or gone somewhere with our family. I make it a point not to go out over night because I'm afraid to lose my place. I did once already when I was hospitalized and I had to stay in the hospital for ten days. My doctors saw to it that I stayed in the hospital for ten days 'til I was able to get my place back; and then I was moved from one room to another and had roommates that were really hard to live with. And, I don't know what else to say. I'm just having a real hard time here. Peter is my friend and we would both like to share a house together, or maybe with another roommate...
We would like to get out of here soon. I can't think of anything else to say so this is our wish, we are hoping you'll help us soon. Oh, and another thing we've been working on this for almost 2 years now with hopes of getting out and nothing has happened yet. It would be nice if you could come out to the nursing home and see what we have to cope with ever day. We extend a personal invitation out to you for you to visit Peter and I in the nursing home.
Sincerely-
Vivian