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."
Did you see it as a free market when unelected bureaucrats and "non-profit" gangs with an agenda took away the rights of private property owners to allow legal activity on their premises?
Or does the free market theory only come into play when 93-year old women should just haul ass and get out if they don't like it?
Already tried to do that.
The concentrations necessary were impossible to achieve.
That little bit of scientific impossibility didn't stop the anti-smoking Nazis.
Or is that just exhaust from cars. I'm confused.
Your breath is bad too...Bogey.
Lighten up...watch 24.
I have never called any smoker a loser...just a tobacco addict.
bite me.
like other self centered selfish types, need to respect others' rights as well.
Your response is what I might expect from someone who lives in a trailer park.
The ANTI'S put us there!!!!!!!!!
Do you really think we LIKE smoking outside?????
...............whatever.....
I work in a hospital and see what pain a lot of these families are going thru. So in Arkansas, not only do you have the problem of dealing with a severe illness, but you are going thru nicotine withdrawal at the same time. Nicotine is one of the most addicting drugs and unless they want to offer them a nicotine patch, I think it is kind of cruel to not let them smoke a damn cigarette.
It will definitely shorten her life.
At 93, or 23 for that matter, she should be able to choose vices such as smoking even if it shortens her life.
Nice evasion.
LOL.
Park your car.
Then you have some cred.
Your response is what I might expect from someone who lives in a trailer park.
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.
You apparently didn't understand my point. Any business, public or private, would be idiotic to pay someone to watch someone else smoke to ensure that they didn't burn down a building. The safest AND the best course of action is to ban smoking inside a NURSING HOME and use that employee to actually do a job that will provide actual CARE for an individual. I'm not sure why this is so hard for you folks to understand.
A...hole.
Nice.
Lighten up...watch 24.
A...hole.
Nice.
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