Posted on 02/26/2006 4:41:16 AM PST by SheLion
A WOMAN in a wheelchair must go outside into the cold weather for a cigarette even though she is 93 - because smoking is banned in her nursing home.
Gladys Gornall, known as Chris, of the Norwood Lodge Nursing Home in Nore Road, Portishead, took up smoking 10 years ago after her husband died.
Daughter Joan Mock, 68, says it is the only thing she has left that keeps her happy.
And she says she fears her mother is more likely to die from exposure to cold winter weather than from smoking.
Mrs Mock said: "She's 93, she's in a wheelchair and she has to smoke outside. Last week I had to stand outside with her with an umbrella over her while it rained. We know it's not politically correct any more, but she is old and she will die of hypothermia rather than smoking at this rate."
Mrs Gornall said: "I'm sick and tired of going out there in the cold. I'm fed up with the whole situation. What else have I got to look forward to? I've got no other pleasures."
Mrs Mock said the home used to have a small room where smokers could light up. But she said the smoking ban in the building has now been enforced for health and safety reasons.
She said: "For God's sake, what can she do? There aren't any other smokers in the home now. This is all she has left as her bit of independence. It's so pathetic."
She said relatives of other residents at the home have sympathised with Mrs Gornall's plight.
The only real health problem the pensioner has is osteoarthritis in her knees.
Mrs Mock said: "She says they aren't going to stop her having a fag."
Mrs Gornall moved into the home with her husband, Albert, in 1996 but he died within weeks of their arrival. She took up smoking soon after his death.
Gill Lee, group operations manager for Belmont Care, which owns the home, said the non-smoking policy had been in place since before Mrs Gornall went into the nursing home. She said: "We've had a policy for years in Norwood Lodge of no smoking, mainly on health and safety grounds.
"Mrs Gornall, her daughter and her social worker had a meeting with the matron in May 2005 to explain to her the no-smoking policy in the home, and this was confirmed to her in writing."
She said none of the staff smoke inside the building. But she would not comment on whether the company's policy on enforcing the smoking ban had been tightened.
And she said allowing Mrs Gornall just to smoke in her own room would be "even worse".
She said: "To allow smoking in their room would cause even more health and safety issues."
What if she was a pedophile and wanted me to bring her a small child? blah, blah, blah.
Get real, will you? We're talking about a cigarette. What's with your hysteria over the subject? You seem to think that because she's 93, she must be addlepated. Believe it or not, some people are capable of weighing risks and rewards without the unwelcome advice of busybodies and making a decision all on their own. Imagine that. It's her decision to make, not yours.
Did you read the article? Her daughter said smoking is the only pleasure she has left. She wants to partake of that one small pleasure, but the righteous legions of smoke Nazis want to make sure they take even that from her, in the name of "health."
As for common sense, common sense dictates that you don't give a lighter and cigarettes to a 93 year old woman in a nursing home unless you're a total idiot.
I'm quite sure that the smoking room (before the Nazis closed it) was supervised. The fact that there was a smoking room indicates that smoking was not allowed in the occupants' rooms.
Priorities Madame Dufarge, priorities.
Whose? Yours?
I don't think so.
I use an Altoids box---when I'm finished with my cigarette I just close the box and poof!---cigarette goes out!
Wow ! What a bunch of low class,uneducated losers ! (sarcasm off)
If she were actually capable of going to the store and buying her own cigarettes then she wouldn't be in a NURSING HOME. Her daughter probably has power of attorney (or whatever) to keep her in there or else she would probably leave this Nazi establishment that won't let smoke INSIDE a nursing home. The lady makes virtually no decisions for herself yet you want her to be able to decide when and how to strike a flame and carry around a burning ember. Not very wise.
Did you read the article? Her daughter said smoking is the only pleasure she has left. She wants to partake of that one small pleasure, but the righteous legions of smoke Nazis want to make sure they take even that from her, in the name of "health."
Her daughter said that? Imagine that. Why doesn't the 93 year old lady tell us that? Any guesses why? And so what? Is a nursing home obligated to grant the "pleasure" of any of its residents? And it's probably not "smoke Nazi's" who want this, but rather "insurance Nazi's" who realize that having 93 year old patients in a nursing home with matches and burning rolls of tobbaco isn't a very wise investment.
I'm quite sure that the smoking room (before the Nazis closed it) was supervised. The fact that there was a smoking room indicates that smoking was not allowed in the occupants' rooms.
Let's see...how can we best justify spending our employee money? Shall we pay for someone to go around and change adult diapers and soiled beds...or shall we pay someone to sit there and watch people smoke?? Gee...what to do? Try thinking this through a little bit Madame.
Or perhaps dystopian? LOL
Yes you are confused.
"She wants to engage in an unhealthy voluntary activity"
I doubt they are losers. But the smoking obsessed, like other self centered selfish types, need to respect others' rights as well.
God almighty,she's ninety-three years old. Do you really think she gives a thought to whether an activity is healthy or not? Do you really think she cares if she's a little cold for the 5 minutes she takes to smoke a cigarette? Do you really think her daughter rolls her out there naked to smoke? Or do you think the daughter is whining BECAUSE she has to dress her up, roll her out there and then stand outside with her to smoke?
That was a staff member not the woman or her daughter.......from the rest of the article it appears that comment came out of the blue.
As to the smoking room, the article says that some staff members also smoke, so why not let them smoke in there as well?
She's 93 years old, she's lived there for 10 years, and apparently until last year she could smoke in the smoking room.
Now I'm confused. What rights of others do smokers not respect?
I posted the "loser' comment because we smokers have been called losers so often it's almost funny.
One poster even said most smokers were from the "lower classes",which was an elitist comment if I ever heard one.
Not as sick as the people who read the headline and thought to themselves, "Good for her," or "Serves her right."
"Or do you think the daughter is whining BECAUSE she has to dress her up, roll her out there and then stand outside with her to smoke?"
She can THINK, she just can't WALK!.
yet you want her to be able to decide when and how to strike a flame and carry around a burning ember.
Do I? Where did I say that? I want the Nazis to reopen the smoking room.
Her daughter said that? Imagine that. Why doesn't the 93 year old lady tell us that?
So you do think she's addlepated. I hope you live to that age and are on the receiving end, someday. "He's 93 you know, don't pay any attention to anything he says. He doesn't know any better." My father-in-law lived to the ripe old age of 95, and could argue rings around anyone he engaged with. Sharp as a tack to the end.
who realize that having 93 year old patients in a nursing home with matches and burning rolls of tobbaco isn't a very wise investment
Children argue like this. Ignore previous statements others make and just keep banging away. Here, I'll type very slowly: There was a smoking room. Separate from the patients' rooms. Smoking was in all likelihood supervised in the smoking room. Matches in the smoking room and Colonel Mustard in the library with a gun..... Get it?
..or shall we pay someone to sit there and watch people smoke??
"We?" You have a financial interest in the place?
By the way, the smoking room was closed as a result of the Nazi ban, not because of staff complaints.
Try to think outside the hive, Doug.
Of course she cares if she's cold.
Smoking a cigarette at the age of 93: pleasurable activity.
Being outside in the cold at the age of 93: not a pleasurable activity.
You're just a hunka hunka burnin' empathy, aren't you?
I see it as a free market...if she doesn't like the nursing home policies, she can move to a nursing home that allows smoking. The nursing home owner has a right to establish smoking/non-smoking policies on their property. Unfortunate that they allowed it, then didn't allow it, but that is a good reason to take your business elsewhere.
Read it again Sam, she only took up smoking 10 years ago
Carbon monoxide still comes out of your car.
My guess is that the State, County, Municipality (soon to be Fedguv.) has taken away that option.
Just like bars and restaurants.
Maybe she should just move to a casino on an Indian reservation. For some reason, those seem to win exemptions from the smoking bans.
I bet it would be cheaper to just give her a bucket of quarters and have her sit at a slot machine all day anyway.
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