DD Date 1984.01.25

January 25, 1984

It's getting where I can't concentrate at work. Beth Eden Nursing Home has been officially closed. It has become clear that there are no more funds available from US governmental agencies to support the residents. It will continue as a nursing facility for the treatment of private citizens with the funds to keep their aged parents hospitalized. Medicines are scarce and getting scarcer. Meanwhile, herbal and alternative treatments are on the rise.

This does not bode well for me, for my job is low skill (taking blood pressures, checking temps) and physical (turning patients and bathing, for instance). As the needs increase, administrators are looking to hire more nurses and do with fewer aids. My hopes to finding a church to serve are slim, so it's going to be into the odd jobs market for me if I get let go. I would have thought in the current situation healthcare would be the securest of all fields. I certainly hope Debbie's job holds up. The hospital she works at is privately owned, but I'm pretty sure a lot of the patients there depend on government insurance to pay for their care (like Veterans' Administration).

On another related note, the abortion clinic near the hospital has been shut down! It came as a result of a rash of abortions after the reports of nuclear war became public in October. Hundreds rushed to end the lives of babies they didn't think they could afford. Some of my friends were outside on Grove Road trying to stop them, holding signs and all that. But mostly just praying publicly. Well, anyway, without proper facilities, the doctors got sloppy. Some girls died as a result, so charges were filed. The local police made it a priority, the courts pushed it through, and quite appropriately the order to close was affective last Sunday, January 22, on the eleventh anniversary of the famous Roe v. Wade decision.

The abortions continue over on Laurens Road, though. I talked with some friends at church and they want to picket the place. It's the least we can do, I guess. I wonder if the politicians locally will change things after this. I doubt if any courts of appeal will take a case when we can't even get a phone call to reach Asheville anymore. Maybe the next election will change things. You never can tell.

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